


New World

by Arvernii



Category: One Direction (Band), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Character Development, Dogs, M/M, Married Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Married Zayn Malik/Liam Payne, No Smut, Original Character(s), Parents Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-07-11 18:15:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 44,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7064839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arvernii/pseuds/Arvernii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*This story will take place [roughly] within The Walking Dead's zombie-filled universe, with some differences. My fiction will not have anything to do with the story-line of the t.v. show or the comics; it will run parallel at times but Michonne, Rick, Daryl, Glenn, Carol, Maggie etc etc will not exist in my story.</p><p>-</p><p> "How did this happen? Right now my biggest concern is supposed to be if I want cheese on my hamburger or not. Not if I'm going to become a hamburger." I whispered to Chandler, he grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it "Don't worry Cole; we'll get through this, we just have to be smart". The conversation got cut off as the slowly shuffling feet finally came into view; I grabbed Fenris's and Shylo's muzzles with my hands to keep from them from barking or growling and giving away out hiding spot.   "We just need to think" Chandler whispered to me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Louis's POV

Harry and I were sitting on the couch in the living room, watching tv, as his phone started yelling at us, fishing out his phone from his pocket he looked at it and said "Liam and Zayn's plane just landed, I'll get dressed and we'll go?" I nodded before he kissed me on the cheek.

"Are you ready to go?" my husband Harry asked from behind me a short while later. I looked over my shoulder to him; he was wearing a nice blue and green button down shirt, with black jeans and some dark brown boots. He has always taken great pride in his appearance. He was clean shaven and his shoulder length black, loosely curly, hair framed his face; I preferred it this way, rather than the man-bun he sometimes kept his hair in.

Harry noticed me staring and his green eyes slightly squinted as he started to chuckle; playing with the gold wedding ring on his left hand he said "Are you going to stare at me or are we going to pick up our friends from the airport?"

"Don't blame me for staring when you look like that" I said winking to him as I turned off the T.V. "Louis, you're thirty five years old and I'm thirty two; why do you still make comments like we're teenagers...I swear if it wasn't for your blue eyes..." he teased. I chuckled "You still make me feel the way you did when we first met, when we were literally teenagers".

"Anyway, just let me get my coat and we'll leave" I said as I walked to the bedroom. I grabbed a jacket from the closet and glanced at myself in the mirror to make sure I didn't look like a complete slob; Harry and I dressed completely different from each other.

Harry took pride in his clothes and was always on the cutting edge of fashion, only wearing expensive brand name clothing; I on the other hand dressed far more casually, with a plain green t-shirt, grey jeans, sneakers and simple black jacket. I scratched at the slight stubble on my chin; making a mental note to shave later before I ran my fingers through my brown hair, too lazy to get a comb or a brush.

"Is Cole going?" I asked Harry as I rejoined him in the living room. "I didn't ask, he never wants to go with us anywhere anymore" Harry said, looking up from his phone "I just texted Liam and Zayn to let them know we're going". I nodded and knocked at my son's door; I waited a second before opening the door since no response came.

Our seventeen year old biological son Cole, born from a surrogate mother; laid on his stomach on his bed with his ear phones in, typing on his laptop, even at the door I could faintly hear his loud music. "Cole" I said, waving my hand; he glanced at the movement and took off one of his ear phones "Yeah Papa?"

"We're going to the airport to pick up Liam and Zayn, you should come; I know that your father would enjoy it". "Not now Pops, I'm in the middle of something: someone is wrong on the Internet and it's my job to correct them" Cole said as he pushed his black framed glasses further up his nose before he started typing again.

"Cole you really should come; just because your sister Anastasia is currently in England with your cousins doesn't mean you should stay in your room all day" I said sternly. Cole gave a huge melodramatic sigh like I was ruining his life as he closed his laptop.

Cole was my spitting image, while his fraternal twin sister Anastasia looked just like Harry; the only difference between Cole and I was that his eyes were bright green like Harry's. Cole went to his closet and changed his shirt; he dressed somewhere in the middle of Harry and I.

Cole was never on the cutting edge of fashion like his father but he was always within the current trends; Cole however, refused to ever wear button down shirts like his father and highly preferred t-shirts like myself.

"Thanks champ" I said, bringing my son into a hug as he finished getting dressed. Cole didn't hug me back, it was his way of showing his annoyance with the situation without actually saying anything. Both of us joined Harry in the living room and Cole received another hug from Harry, and again he didn't return it "Shall we go?" Harry asked.

As we opened the door, a rental car pulled up in front of our house and two familiar men stepped out. "Liam! Zayn!" Harry whined "I just texted you that we were on our way!" "Merry Christmas to you too Harry" Liam chuckled "Sorry, we wanted to surprise you but not come completely unannounced so I lied and said we landed".

Liam was a solid wall of muscle; made from being a firefighter.paramedic for the last ten years, the job forced him to keep his light brown hair short and his beard neatly trimmed; dressed in a simple, plain blue button down short sleeve shirt, black jeans and brown eyes that never stopped smiling, he looked completely different from his husband Zayn.

Zayn never really grew out of his bad boy phase even though he was year younger than I was. He always smelled very faintly of motor grease and gas from the mechanic's garage he owned and worked in, even if he just showered. Despite working such a dirty job, he fussed about his appearance nearly as much as Harry did: his beard was meticulously groomed, his jet black hair fell into his eyes even though he gelled and styled it, and he still always wore a black leather jacket with a plain white t-shirt and torn jeans.

"Uncle Liam! Uncle Zayn!" Cole said excitedly and offered them a hug. "Hey big guy, how's it going? You doing well in school?" Liam said with a smile. "You keeping out of trouble?" Zayn said sternly as they pulled away from the group hug. Cole nodded and tried to play it cool as Liam pulled out a large box from the back of the car and handed it him; but he was nearly jumping for joy, Liam and Zayn always brought gifts when they came over and the kids loved them for it. "Can I open it now Dad or do I have to wait for Christmas?" Cole asked Harry who chuckled "Sure open it now".

"So how's business at the clinic, Dr. Tomlinson?" Liam asked Harry as we brought all of their bags inside. "It's going well; I really like what I do, I love helping people" Harry answered. Liam nodded "That's why I became a firefighter, to help people; what about you Louis? How's the radio station going?" I nodded "We're the fourth most listened to radio station in southern California; music was always my passion and I'm happy that I still get to work in it...I just hate doing repairs".

Cole came back out of his room after opening Liam's gift; holding the box his hands and looking confused, inside were several chew toys, a couple of leashes, some collars and other dog care items. "Uncle Liam...umm...not that I don't appreciate gifts but...My dads said we can't have dogs" Cole said sadly. Liam looked at Harry and I "Cole, your father and I are finally letting you and your sister finally have dogs" I said.

Cole stared at me in shock "Are you...serious?" "But" Harry quickly said "You have to wait until your sister comes back home with Niall tomorrow; so she can choose what kind of dog she wants, we're allowing you to get pets but you'll have to wait until she gets home, deal?" Cole dropped the boxed and ran to Harry and gave him a giant hug before giving me one as well "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you" he repeated before he ran into the his room "I'm going to give Ana a call!"

"He's a good kid" Zayn said as Cole ran back into his room, before turning to Liam and saying "I hope ours turns out that way". I wheeled around to stare at Zayn "Excuse me?!" Liam sighed " Zayn! You ruined the surprise! But yeah we started the adoption application process; when we go back home to London hopefully we'll be approved" Liam said with a huge smile.

"Dad, dad, dad!" Cole said running into the living room again and shoving his phone into Harry's chest "Look, they're holding an adoption fair at the Superstore; some animal shelters are hosting an adoption event! Can we go? Please, please, please?"

Harry looked at Cole's phone but said "No, Cole; we have to wait until your sister gets home". "But look, if we choose a pet they'll reserve it for two days; we can go, choose what we want and they'll hold it for us! And then Ana can go with us tomorrow and say yay or nay" Cole insisted "Ana already said I can choose for her, we've talked a lot about what kinds of dogs we want; I'll just have to send pics of the puppies to her so she can decide".

"I have to go to the store too; my forgetful, yet lovable, husband forgot like half his things" Liam said teasingly to Zayn. Harry sighed "Fine...what's the worse that can happen?".

-

Cole literally ran through the Superstore like a child, going to the back where the signs advertised the adoption event. "I'm going to pick up a few things since we're here anyway" Harry said, grabbing an empty cart. "We'll catch up later" Zayn said as he and Liam walked off with their own cart.

I walked down the aisles of the Superstore, the place lived up to its name; you could buy a gun, watermelon, books, milk, furniture, a boat, get a haircut, visit a doctor, fix your car, get a new television, fill your meds, buy jewelry and grab some lunch without ever leaving the building.

I eventually found Cole at the very back of the store; taking pictures of all the puppies to send to his sister. "Cole I'm going to be down this aisle ok?" I called to my son who only nodded but I don't think he actually heard me since he said to himself "Why aren't the pictures sending?" Sighing to myself I started looking at various tools, admittedly I haven't even shopped for Zayn or Liam yet...or Niall for that matter.

I actually bought gifts for Liam, Zayn and Niall and was returning back to check on Cole's progress when I heard screams coming from the front of the store. I turned to look, but the display cases blocked my view of the front; as the screams started getting louder and closer I dropped my bag and ran to my son. At the back of the store the screams were distant enough that the Christmas/Holiday music playing overhead out of the loudspeakers were able to drown out the sound, so most shoppers were oblivious.

Cole sat in a cage with two large puppies that looked like miniature wolves running circles around him, playing with him and each other as a staff worker was saying "These are Siberian Husky-German Shepherd mix puppies also known as: Shepskies, Gerberian Shepsky, Germanian Shepsky or Siberian Shepherds. They were actually bred and raised to become police dogs, from 4 weeks old until two days ago have both been in training. These two have very strong physical characteristics of huskies but in terms of mentality and personality they're total German Shepherds; their fur is short, another trait from their German Shepherd side which means you won't have to worry about the heat like you would for huskies.

Cole looked at the woman "They're just letting people adopt police dogs? Isn't that dangerous?" The woman shook her head "Oh no honey, these dogs are still puppies and are perfectly safe; their training was only just basics: obedience training, simple commands, house training. The only thing different is that these puppies might grow up to be more protective than usual, but if you ask me that's a selling point, not a bad thing".

Cole finally saw me as I approached the cage, out of breath "Papa, what do you think? Her name is Fenris" Cole said to puppy who was chewing on his laces "And this little girl is Shylo. They're both six months old and sisters from the same litter! Like Ana and I!" he said as he pet Shylo between her perky, pointy ears "I would ask Ana if she approves but for some reasons my texts and calls aren't going through".

The two puppies actually looked a lot like wolves. Their backs, muzzles, faces, sides and tails where a very light brown, like coffee with lots of cream, however their stomach and legs were white; both of them also had piercing blue eyes so pale they looked very nearly white.

"Cole are you alright?" I asked, ignoring the puppies; I was more concerned about him. Before he could answer though; Zayn, Liam and Harry showed up together, all at one. Harry also ignored the puppies and gave Cole a hug "Oh thank god you're ok; but we have to get leave" Harry said, pulling Cole up. "Dad, what's going on? Are you crazy?" Cole said as he held the two puppies in his arms since he was playing with them before Harry forced him up

I was shoved aside as someone ran past me, looking to where the person was running from I saw a shambling figure, as if one of legs was broken, making its way up the aisle. "Someone's hurt" Liam said jogging towards the figure as Harry followed him "Excuse me are you alright?" Harry asked as they get closer. A guy however, turned the corner and ran into the shambling person; who immediately grabbed him and bit him on the shoulder.

"What the hell?" I heard Zayn gasp as the guy was screaming; instinctively I grabbed Cole's head and pressed it into my chest, to avoid him seeing what we were seeing. Liam and Harry stopped in their tracks and stared at the scene, watching as someone was literally eating someone else in front of them; unable to comprehend what they saw.

"What the hell is happening?" Liam said quietly before the shambling guy lost interest in his meal as the guy he was eating finally laid still. Zayn ran over and pulled Liam and Harry out of the way as a woman who was bleeding rivers from her arm tried to grab them. The woman lost her balance and fell on her face; she slowly got up however, ignoring her now bleeding, broken nose. The three of them ran past her as she was still getting up and Harry grabbed my arm, since I was still holding on to Cole and ran away from the two figures pulling me along.

The store quickly collapsed into pure chaos, screams and cries of pain surrounded us; it seemed everywhere we looked someone was attacking someone else. As we ran past an aisle someone that was lying on the floor reached out and grabbed Cole; causing him to fall forward and drop the puppies he was still holding on too. Without even thinking about it, I grabbed a baseball bat from the shelves and swung it as hard as I could at the person's head that had my son's leg. All those boring hours of golf with Niall finally paid off.

The person let go of Cole, who ignored his limp and grabbed the puppies again; who for some reason didn't run away. Liam noticed Cole's limp and picked him up like he was a baby and continued to run. We followed some normal people into an employee only area and into the warehouse where the store kept all of the stuff that it used to restock the shelves.

"Help me block this door so nothing can get in!" a guy shouted as he put a box of shoes in front of the door. The fifty or so people inside jumped into motion and I grabbed the box closest to me and set it in front of the door. "Help me! Please let me in!" a guy said as he banged on the doors and shouted though a little circular window. Before we could even react though he was attacked by someone else.

A woman that was with us threw up but everyone else kept stacking the boxes until we couldn't even see the door anymore; but the noises, the screams, they still reached us. In pure irony the Christmas music was still playing over the loudspeakers.


	2. Chapter 2

Cole's POV

"Cole are you alright?" Pops asked me as Dad rolled up my pants leg and looked at the quickly darkening spot on my ankle from where that...thing grabbed me. I nodded "I'm fine...can't speak for her though" I said softly, looking at a hugely pregnant woman who was in complete hysterics. Shylo looked up at me and licked the bottom of my chin from her place on my lap as Fenris whined and pushed her face into her sister's furry side,

"Here Harry; let me look at that, you should try to contact Ana" Uncle Liam said to Dad; squatting in front of me and gently touching my ankle "Does that hurt?" he asked me and I shook my head. Uncle Liam nodded "Try to stand up" he said, offering me a hand; I set the puppies down and took his hand, standing up. Uncle Liam look at me for a moment and said "We'll it's not broken or fractured; if it was you wouldn't be able to stand without an extreme amount of pain, it's just a wicked bruise".

"Literally...what just happened?" Uncle Zayn finally spoke up. "I have no idea" Pops said as Dad brought the phone down from his ear "Louis I can't get through: the phone lines are completely jammed, my texts and emails won't send either! Oh my god I hope Anastasia is ok!"

"I'm sure she's fine, Harry" Pops said with complete confidence "By now she should already be with Niall and you know that Niall would never let anything happen to her, he loves her like his own daughter...plus we're separated by the Atlantic ocean, Britain and Ireland are islands; whatever is happening here can't possibly be over there. Plus...Harry they might already be in the air, safe and sound"

Dad nodded "You're right, you're completely right...but still..." Uncle Zayn placed a hand on Harry's shoulder "Let's just focus on the here and now ok? We'll all go crazy if we worry about things we have no control over".

"How are you so calm about this Zayn; we literally just saw people...eating each other" Dad asked Uncle Zayn. Uncle Zayn turned to him "I don't know what happened but I do know that there is no use in panicking. We're trapped in here with those things on the other side of the door; this is a time we need to think carefully and not make any rash decisions".

"Oh my god! He's right! We're trapped in here! What if those things come in?" a man shrieked, apparently overhearing the conversation we were having. "No, there are loading docks in this place for trucks! They're in the back! We can escape!" another guy said and started running to the back. Several people started following him, leaving the injured alone, thinking only of themselves. "Can you walk? We need to get out of here; don't worry we'll find help for these people" Pops added, seeing the look on my face.

"I found these" Uncle Liam said, holding two dog collars and a two dog leashes; neither Shylo nor Fenris fought or struggled at all as I put on the collars and leash, it must have been their police training. They ran with us as we followed the rest of the people as they ran to the back, metal hitting metal told us that they found the doors.

"They have padlocks!" a woman shouted as several guys were using anything they could grab to try to break the locks open. "We need bolt cutters!" Uncle Liam said and several people turned to him and then scattered throughout the warehouse. When we finally found a pair we cut off the locks and opened the doors, it looked like a scene from a war movie or something; I stared at it but couldn't even understand what was happening.

The back where the trucks would be was empty because it was fenced in and gated but outside the fences was chaos. Cars, trucks and vans were slammed into each other, several were overturned, a couple were even on fire. People ran in all directions, screaming; however every second it seemed that someone was taken down by one of those things. Others were trying to fight off the things but were overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

"My family is out there!" one of the guys said and yanked the bolt cutters out from another guy's hands and opened the gate to run out "I refuse to die like a fish in a barrel!" someone else said before jumping down to the concrete and running to the gate.

Most everyone, even the injured, also jumped down and ran to the gate, and as I got ready to jump down too; Pops placed a hand on my shoulder, looking back at him he only shook his head and said "Let's find a spot for you to sit, you need to rest your ankle". Pops turned me around and I heard someone else say "The idiots, did they really think they would get far?"

I looked over my shoulder as Pops lead me away from the loading dock, Uncle Liam looked at everyone who refused to move before reaching over his head and closing the door to the warehouse as some of the shambling walkers started to trickle inside the fenced in loading dock.

Those who remained, like my family, Uncle Liam and Uncle Zayn, dispersed into the warehouse and fresh sobs could be heard from both men and women. "I'm going to go back to that pregnant woman" Dad said "I have to keep myself busy...so I don't lose my mind" "I'll go too Harry" Uncle Liam offered. Pops pulled out a nearby box and set it on the ground roughly, shattering whatever was inside "Take a seat Cole, play with the puppies; I'm going to try to find where they store the camping gear and try to get us a tent and some sleeping bags".

"You think we'll be in here that long?" I asked, scared of his answer. "I don't know son; but I want to be prepared in case we are" Pops said before walking away and turning into an aisle. "Don't worry Cole, I'm sure we'll be fine, your sister too! How about I try to find us something to eat yeah? I'll look for some food for your friends too" Uncle Zayn said petting Fenris and Shylo who both licked his hand before walking away.

-

I was on my cell phone trying all of the messaging apps and social media I had to try to contact my sister, my friends, literally anyone; but I kept getting errors, failure to send, or couldn't connect to server messages.

I looked over as Shylo and Fenris were playing together, wrestling; I long since took off the leash since they kept tying it in knots, they never wandered far though and whenever they did, they scampered right back to me.

"Any luck?" Uncle Zayn said with a giant box in his arms. I shook my head "I just wish I knew one way or the other you know?" Uncle Zayn nodded "I know what you mean, I wish I knew what's happening with my three sisters too; but again, we can't stress over the unknown" Uncle Zayn said as he set down the box. "So I got some things here" Uncle Zayn said as he handed me an apple which I wiped on my shirt before taking a bite; the box he had was full of pet supplies: food bowls, various toys, a couple of litter boxes, a bag of litter and some fake grass.

"Thank you" I said to Uncle Zayn " But what's the litter boxes and grass for?" "My sister Doniya lives in an apartment with this little...rat of a dog, and she actually trained it to use a litter box since she and her boyfriend work all day and the dog kept having accidents; I was thinking you can do the same with those two since you can't exactly take them outside to use the toilet".

"Also" Uncle Zayn said, opening a bag of chips before hanging me a small pile of thick books from inside the box, dog training manuals "They have a ton of these, should keep the three of you busy for a while" he said with a chuckle.

"Thanks" I said, flipping through the dog training book; there actually was a section on how to train your dog to be a guard dog. I looked over to the puppies "Don't worry you two, I'll resume your training to become police dogs, it's what you were bred and born to do after all" I said, causing Uncle Zayn to chuckle at my joke.

Screaming made both Uncle Zayn and I turned back toward the front of the warehouse and the puppies to howl weakly; it wasn't a scream of panic or fear, but rather of pain. Uncle Zayn and I made our way to the noise and found Dad, Uncle Liam and several other people surrounding the pregnant woman "Roger, we have to wait for Roger" the woman kept repeating. "What's going on?" Uncle Zayn asked. "The woman is in shock and her body has induced labor" Dad answered.

"...What?" I asked. "In life or death situations a lot of animals, including humans, will sometimes induce labor to ensure the survival of the mother with the intention of leaving the child behind; that seems to be happening right now" Dad explained as he helped the woman out of her pants, thankfully I was over her shoulder so all I didn't see anything and Uncle Liam quickly draped a towel over her legs.

Uncle Zayn scooped up the puppies that were curious about what was going on, holding on in each hand. "Liam I'm not a pediatrician or a neonatal doctor so I'm going to need your help" Dad said, Uncle Liam nodded "Don't worry Harry, I delivered a baby in the back of a car on the highway once".

"Roger, we have to wait for Roger" the woman repeated for the fifth time through clenched teeth as she suddenly tensed up. "Who is Roger?" Dad asked. "My husband, he's my husband but he's at work right now; please you have to call him, doctor".

Dad and Uncle Liam looked at each other before glancing at the barricaded door and the back of the warehouse where the loadings docks where "Ma'am I don't-" Uncle Liam started saying but Uncle Zayn interrupted him "I'll call for you, let the doctor do his work, is your phone in your pocket?" Uncle Zayn asked the woman as he gave me the puppies and grabbed her pants to pull out her phone.

Uncle Zayn pretended to play with her phone for a bit before bringing to his ear, even though the phone was still on the home screen; after a moment he said "Hey, is this Roger? Yeah this is Zayn, your wife is actually giving birth right now...Yeah we're at the Superstore on 7th ave...Yeah I know there's traffic...alright". Uncle Zayn pulled the phone from his ear after the fake conversation "He's on his way ok, now just focus on your child" the woman nooded. "Let's go find your father and help him set up the tent, Cole" Uncle Zayn said as he returned her phone to her pants.

"Why did you lie?" I asked Zayn as we walked the warehouse looking for my father, Zayn sighed "Because sometimes you have to lie for the greater good; that woman already has enough to worry about." "But what if her husband never comes" I protested. Zayn looked at me "He probably won't, not for a while at least, until the police and law enforcement deals with...whatever is happening outside and we're rescued, hopefully it'll be soon but we need to deal with what we know, the here and now".

We found my father setting up aerobeds in a tent that was along one of the walls close to an emergency exit. "Hey guys, this should be big enough right? The box says it fits ten people so there should be enough room for all of us; I also found three air beds and they all fit inside" Pops said, poking his head out.

-

Pops made a simple dinner of boxed macaroni and cheese; literally everything we could ever want was inside this warehouse, even portable camping stoves and cooking pots. The tap water was still running so we used that, keeping the bottled water in case the tap ever turns off, same went for the flashlights and batteries.

I didn't talk to any of the others but Pops and Uncle Zayn did; and together they all decided rules just case we would be here a while. I was the youngest person here, the next youngest was actually this other guy who was twenty four, as well as my family as the only family here; there was couples that were here but none of them had any children. It seemed that families decided to...stay together, outside.

"Cole, what are you thinking about?" Pops asked me as he held his pasta holding it high above the curious puppies. "Nothing...I just thinking about how I hope everyone is ok...out there" I said looking over my shoulder to the direction of the doors, even though I couldn't see them because of the shelves and boxes in the way.

"Of course they will be, I'm sure even as we speak the police and everyone are getting everything cleaned up; we'll be home tomorrow, three days at the most" Pops said hopefully.

Over our shoulders, a faint baby's cry could be heard.


	3. Chapter 3

Chandler's POV

"Dad we can't just stay here and twiddle our thumbs; the power just went out yesterday, rescue isn't coming! If it was they would have kept the power running!" I shouted at him "We have all your hunting and camping equipment; let's just get out of here!"

My cheek started to sting as my father slapped me across the face "I am your father and you will talk to me with respect" he said "Ok Chandler, let's say we do make it out of the city; what then?" I stared at him "We survive! You're always telling the story of how you survived that year in the woods alone when you got lost! At least out there we'll have a chance."

"And what about your sister? Or your mother? Do you think they'll survive? Our best bet is to just lay low and try to wait this out" my father said quietly. Mom came into the room holding a bottle of beer for my father "Chandler, sweetie, I made you and Candice sandwiches; enjoy them, it's the last of the bread." I glared at my father before stomping into the kitchen, grabbing the two sandwiches on the counter and heading into my sister's room.

I set down the plates on her dresser and lightly tapped her shoulder "I brought you lunch Candy" I signed with a smile, as my hands forming the sentence. My sister was completely deaf because three days after she was born, my father smuggled her into a nightclub to show her off to his drinking friends and placed her by one of the loudspeakers for the entire night, since he got tired of holding her.

I handed her the better looking sandwich, taking the crusty one for myself "What are you drawing?" I asked one handed as my other hand was holding my lunch. "My birthday is in two months and I'm planning my party" she said with a smile, her hands flying in front of her face. "Fourteen, wow, show me what you have planned" I signed and scooter closer to her so I can see her drawing over her shoulder.

It was a nice party with a Hawaiian/tropical paradise theme; the entire family was there, even aunts uncles and cousins. "Whose that" I signed, pointed to a boy I didn't recognize "That's Matthew" she signed and tried to change the subject "So I was thinking we could all wear like hula skirts-" "Wait, wait, wait" I signed "Does my little baby sister have a crush?" Candy giggled and hid her face in her pillow.

-

After we finished our sandwiches Candy suddenly asked "Do you think we'll be alright?" "Of course we will, I'll take care of you" I signed "I won't let anything happen to you" She still looked unsure so I added "Have I ever let you down?"

We both looked up as my father entered, or rather staggered, into Candy's room "Goddammit Candy, your room is a disaster! I told you clean it up this morning!" he said shouting, slurring his words. "Don't yell at her, she doesn't understand you" I said standing up. "Isn't she learning how to read lips? Why the hell am I sending her to that special school then? And don't do that hand waving thing, you look like a damn monkey or some shit" my father added as I started signing to Candy since she looked completely lost.

"You made her like this; you made her deaf! Don't get mad at us for dealing with your screw ups!" I shot back. I fell sideways and ended up on the floor as my father slapped me as hard as he could "I am your father, you will treat me with respect" I touched my bottom lip and looked at the blood on my fingertips "You're my sperm donor, not my Dad, you don't deserve my respect" I spat at him. Mom ran into the room and saw me on the floor "Nick, come to the kitchen; I made you a drink" she said trying to calm him down.

"Does it hurt? I'm sorry you got in trouble because of me" Candy signed as she came back from the bathroom with the first aid kit. "What? This? Nah I've been hurt worse from the bullies at school" I signed, trying to make a joke so she wouldn't worry.

We spent the rest of the day in her room; drawing, playing board games, cards, anything we could think of to pass the time. When Candy starting yawning I stood up and kissed her on the top of my head "I'll see you tomorrow kiddo, get some sleep" I signed.

"Chan wait....can you stay with me until I fall asleep...I have nightmares that those things outside will come inside and get me" she signed. "They're not going to get you, I won't let them" I signed as I went to her bed, pulled back the blankets and tucked her in bed. "You're the best big brother ever" she signed, before she hugged me as I laid down with her.

-

A week later we were sitting in Candy's room playing Candyland, her favorite since it had her name, when I heard my parents starting fighting again. I listened with half an ear, it sounded pretty bad "I'm going to get a drink" I signed, lying. Candy nodded and I quietly exited her room, careful to not step on the squeaky floorboards; from the hallway I watched my parents fight, their fights usually ended up with my father storming out of the house...if he opened that door...

He did.

Seeming to forget the horrors outside, he opened the door to leave, and walked right into one of those things. Mom started screaming as my father went down and blood appeared on him; I nearly threw up as the thing tore open his stomach to eat his insides, more of those things appeared from the street and moved to my mother who was just standing there screaming in horror.

I ran to Candy's room, grabbed one of her backpacks and shoved some clothes inside before running to my room and doing the same thing; the entire process took less than thirty seconds "What's going on?" Candy protested as I grabbed her by the arm and ran out the backdoor of the house, Mom's screams following us out. "I'll tell you later" I signed as we went to the garage: I grabbed my crossbow, a handful of bolts, and one of my father's camping bags that I knew had some food and water inside; he called it his "earthquake emergency kit" but I always suspected that one day he planned to leave us and never come back.

-

I sighed as I looked at the sparse birthday party decorations, it wasn't the Hawaiian/tropical paradise theme that my sister wanted but it was the best I can do; it was only a few streamers, some balloons, two hula skirts and some party games. I turned to make sure the stale cupcakes, cans of soda and the little pile of candy was ready, as well as her birthday present. I went to the bedroom of the random house we were staying in and entered the room "Can I come out now?" Candy signed as soon as I entered.

I nodded and she jumped up to the living room and looked around "Thank you!" she said excitedly "Oh my gosh, where did you get cupcakes?" I smiled and handed her one, the frosting was hard and the cake itself was stale but she didn't seem to notice as she took a big bite "I'm sorry, this was the best I could do" I signed. "Chan, this is the best birthday party ever!" she said with a large smile.

These past two months have been incredibly hard and difficult but her smile made it worth it. After we escaped our home, we ran into several group of survivors; but sooner or later they all ended the same way: eaten or splitting apart due to internal conflicts.

The last group we stayed with, we were with them for a couple of weeks until the leader wanted to...take advantage of my sister. We barley escaped, I still had bruises on my knuckles and on my ribs from where I fought him off; his pants were already down when I caught him. We've been on our own since that event last week, avoiding any other survivors.

I hugged Candy tightly and closed my eyes tightly to try to block out the image from my head. "Are you alright" she asked concerned. I nodded and handed her a box that was wrapped with school-lined paper since I couldn't find wrapping paper. She opened it up and hugged me when she saw the Hello Kitty bracelet "This is perfect" she said as she slid the bracelet on her wrist "I love Hello Kitty!".

"Happy birthday" I said as our hug ended "Eat all you can" I said motioning to the pitiful assortment of food I had out "today is your birthday, but tomorrow we have to get moving again ok?" I reached behind me and pulled out a blind fold that I made from ripping apart a pillowcase from my back pocket "You ready for pin the tail on the donkey?"

-

"Too tight?" I asked as I tied a scarf around Candy's head like she had a sore tooth, it was necessary since the walkers seemed to be drawn to sound and Candy wasn't aware she was making any noise since she was deaf. Unfortunately even though she couldn't hear, her vocal chords still worked and she would always make random sounds, especially during yawning or something; the scarf would keep her mouth closed so her vocalizations would be at a minimum.

"Are you sure it's not too tight?" I signed and Candy shook her said again and signed "Sorry you have to do this". "Don't apologize, this is to keep you safe; come on let's get going" I said as I shouldered my bag and my crossbow.

We walked down the street, going in a random direction, sticking to the alleys and side streets to avoid the worse of the walkers, killing the stray ones with my crossbow. "Wait here" I signed as I saw a corner store that looked empty. Candy nodded and ducked behind a car in case anything was inside; I dropped my bag next to her and went forward carefully, holding my crossbow in front of me, ready to fire.

I peeked into the giant store front display windows, there was only one walker inside; quietly opening the door, I shot the walker in the head before quickly checking the entire store. It was empty except for the dead walker, I turned back to the street and my blood ran cold "Candy run!" I shouted as if she could suddenly hear.

A walker was coming up behind her and she was completely oblivious. I ran to the front of the store, loaded my crossbow and fired, my shot missed its mark and flew harmlessly past the walkers head. Candy screamed as it grabbed her; it was a primal scream of pure terror, it sounded nearly animalistic since it came from her untrained vocal chords.

The walker bit her in the arm before I was able to reload and kill it. She was crying and holding her arm as I ran to join her, blood was seeping through the cracks between her fingers. "You're going to be alright" I signed as I helped her up and lead her into the store.

I cleaned and bandaged the bite as best I could but Candy soon developed a fever and the bleeding wouldn't stop. "It's feels like fire" Candy signed, pointing to bandage on her arm that was turning quickly red. I poured some water into a rag and placed it on her forehead before tilting her head so she could drink from the bottle; it was all I could do and I nearly cried in helplessness as I wasn't able to help my little baby sister.

"You're going to be ok" I signed through a forced smile as I cradled her head in my arms. "Don't blame yourself, please Chan" she signed "I'm sure Mom is lonely in heaven anyway". "Don't talk like that, you're going to be ok; what if we start planning your fifteenth birthday party right now?" I signed, trying to blink away the tears that threatened to overflow from my eyes "Maybe next year Matthew will come". She smiled "I'd like that, I think you'll like him Chan; he's really nice, he gave me his lunch after I dropped mine".

I watched as Candy told me about this boy that she was never going to see again; she slowly lost the color of her skin and started slightly shaking, the profuse bleeding and the fever taking its toll. I changed the bandage four times by the time she was finished telling me about him; I couldn't stop the bleeding.

"Chan...I'm tired" she signed to me, her fingers and hands barley able to make the shapes at this point. "Sleep Candy, you deserve a rest" I signed as I kissed her forehead "I'll see you when you wake up". "Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?" she said weakly. "I'm not going anywhere" I promised. She smiled one last time "You're the best big brother ever, you should take this" she said as she gave me the bracelet I gave her for her birthday.

I cradled her head and cried over her when finally she stopped breathing. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry I couldn't protect you...I'm so sorry...I should have grabbed one of Dad's guns..." I sobbed as my tears fell on her face. I don't know how long I sat there and cried; but after a while I stood up and grabbed a tarp used to protect vehicles from the weather and covered my sister with it.

I carried her body to a little patch of grass in the back and grabbed a shovel from inside the store, the bottom of the planter was filled with concrete so I couldn't make a real grave but luckily it was just long enough and deep enough to bury her.

I stood there for a minute, catching my breath and wiping my eyes when I saw the tarp move "No, no please" The walker that used to be my little baby sister sat up and looked around, it saw me and started moving towards me. I grabbed my crossbow and stared at the walker down the shaft; I couldn't pull the trigger though, I couldn't kill my baby sister. "Do it Chandler! It's not her anymore! Put her out of her misery!" I shouted to myself as I stared at the walker, fresh tears fell out of my eyes.

The walker fell into the grave I made; even though it was a shallow grave it came up to the walker's waist and it couldn't get out to reach me. I finally let the crossbow fall "I'm sorry Candy, I'm so sorry...I love you...please forgive me" I said softly as I grabbed my bag and walked away, leaving the walker snarling in the grave.


	4. Chapter 4

Cole's POV

We have been hiding in the Superstore warehouse for six miserable months and things were reaching a breaking point; food and water was starting to run low and the smell was completely overwhelming as foods went bad faster than we could eat them and the trash bins we used to keep our bathroom waste in were starting to overflow. The right side of the warehouse was abandoned as that's where all the smelly stuff was kept; we couldn't clean or take any of the stuff outside since the few times we've tried those things where always waiting for us.

The electricity suddenly shut off after the first two weeks and the tap water stopped flowing four days after that, we've been surviving on the canned, dried and packaged foods in the warehouse and drinking the bottles of water that were supposed to be for sale.

In the starting weeks there was a lot of noise from the outside: gun fire, helicopters, airplanes, vehicles; there was even some shaking as what must have been bombs or something were dropped since the shaking was too short for an earthquake and it was always accompanied by a large boom sound.

Whenever those noises went off, people tried to escape; there were a lot of us when everything went to hell, at least fifty; but now we numbered eleven; not counting my family, Zayn and Liam.

Faith, the little girl born in the warehouse, was getting bigger every day; even if her mother didn't know she existed, Dad said it was something called "Postpartum Depression". Her mother spent most of her days staring at the boxes that blocked the doors, waiting for her husband Roger to come since he was still in traffic; she never acknowledged her daughter, even when she started to cry.

Zayn and Liam finally got their wish to have a child and with help from my parents, cared for her as best they could since no one else wanted the responsibility.

It was now June and the warehouse was a miserable, crowded oven. We've spent Pop's birthday, Christmas, New Years, Zayn's birthday Dad's birthday and my birthday in this prison; I was now 18 years old...my sister would have been 18 also.

Shylo and Fenris where both now a year old and very nearly fully grown; you've never seen better behaved dogs though since all I did all day was play with them and train them to pass the time.

I laid on the top rack of one of the shelves as Shylo and Fenris walked in lazy circles around the base of the shelf, their noses to the ground. I chuckled as Shylo placed her front paws on the second shelf and shoved her muzzle in my face as if to say "found you!"

As I petted my dogs for finding me at hide-and-go-seek, I looked over as shouting broke out in the next aisle "James that's your second bottle of water today and it's not even noon yet!" "Bite me Steve, I'm hot, it's like three million degrees in here" the reply came. "Goddammit James it's not all about you! We all have to share!" Steve shot back.

"I'll be back" Dad said, standing up and putting his journal down, Pops followed him. I jumped down from the shelf I was laying on and rejoined Zayn and Liam at the tent; a moment later I heard Dad say "Let's all calm down, it's unbearably hot in here and tensions are running high". "Shut your mouth you piece of gay euro-trash; if you weren't a doctor I would've forced you and your gay family out a long time ago!" James shouted. "What hell did you just say to my husband?!" Pops shouted angrily.

"Watch Faith for us" Zayn said as he and Liam stood up and went over to the next aisle as the shouting got louder, through a crack in the boxes I saw James lunge at Pops and people tried to step in to break up the fight. Shylo and Fenris both started barking at the commotion and over the noise I heard someone say "Someone shut those damn dogs up!"

"Girls, shh" I said, trying to calm them both down; but there was too much excitement going on and they wouldn't listen. "Someone shut those dogs up or I'll do it myself!" a wave of panic washed over me; there was always talk of killing Shylo and Fenris for food and now with the food running low they might actually do it.

The dogs continued barking and in another crack in the boxes I saw Sean grab a baseball and start making his way over to me. In panic I placed Faith inside of the tent on her car seat and ran to a side exit door that was wasn't too far from our tent and snapped my fingers, causing both dogs to follow me.

As soon as I heard the door click closed behind me I realized what I just did; turning to open the door again, I pulled against it as hard as I could but it was locked and wouldn't budge. "Cole you're such an idiot!" I cursed myself as I tugged on the door.

I looked over my shoulder to the street looking for anything I can use to open the door, a crowbar or something. The street was completely empty of people but was a disaster of crashed cars; some of the cars were even inside of buildings from where they veered off the street onto the sidewalk and tried to go around the chaos but crashed into the buildings instead. The parking lot in front of the Superstore was just as bad, if not worse, the entire city was eerily quiet and it felt...wrong.

Banging on the door with my fist, I froze as I heard the girls snarl and growl in response to a low, guttural, moan-like sound behind me. I turned and nearly screamed as what used to be a man was walking slowly towards me; what actually scared me was that he looked dead, literally rotting, and he shouldn't have been walking upright since his right foot turned completely the wrong way, nearly backwards, but he was walking and alive.

"Dad! Papa! Zayn! Liam! Anyone!" I shouted, banging on the door again with my fist; a few weeks ago some people tried to come out here to find help and never came back...I saw one of them turn the corner of a building and shamble toward me, a large piece of her left arm was missing.

Shylo and Fenris bared their teeth and snarled as the man came closer before running toward him; Fenris took him down by jumping on the middle of his chest before grabbing his coat sleeve and pulling him one way while Shylo grabbed the man's pant leg and pulled him the other way, like they often do with the tug-of-war rope toys.

The man ignored Shylo and tried to grab Fenris with his freehand but he couldn't reach my dog; for some reason the man didn't try to take off his coat or seemed to notice that Shylo was tearing a hole in his khakis, even though the man could have easily kicked Shylo off. I looked over passed the man, across the street to the next little shopping area, looking for anywhere to hide for a while before trying the door again.

I jumped over the man and gave a short whistle, causing my dogs to let go of the man and follow closely by my side; three more of those things where already moving toward me and there was movement behind the car crashes. "Come on girls" I said as I ran across the street; it seemed that literally every time I took a step, more of those things appeared.

I ran to a pizza parlor, the closest building to where I was; but two of those things that used to be the people that made the pizza, judging by the aprons, were standing inside. As I ran to the next shop, another one of those things pushed the door open and I stumbled, catching myself before I kissed the pavement. I scrambled back to my feet and just ran, grabbing my glasses from the floor as I got up; I didn't have a destination as I started running, I just needed to get away.

I ran to one of crashed cars that was inside of a fast food restaurant; the car however didn't go all the way into the restaurant but only into a storage closet. Climbing on the hood and sliding into the closet I crouched, cowering in a corner, breathing hard trying to catch my breath.

Fenris and Shylo snarled again as one of those things found me and I screamed as it reached for me; but it couldn't get in, it wouldn't climb over the car and instead reached for me like it expected its arms to grow six feet. Fenris lunged forward and tried to attack it, I grabbed her by the collar though and winced in pain as she nearly pulled my shoulder from its socket.

Holding Fenris and Shylo close, ignoring the snarls and growls both of them were making, I tried the door to the closet but it was locked, I was trapped. I looked the closet over, it was a cleaning closet filled with cleaners and what looked like a broom.

Grabbing the broom by the sweeping part I unscrewed it and was left only with a wooden handle; I shoved it forward like a spear as hard as I could and the thing crumbled as the broom handle punctured its head though its eye.

"Stay" I said in a stern voice and both Fenris and Shylo sat, whining; they would be safe here, for some reason these things couldn't climb on top of the car and it would be easier to get to the door without them. I could see the side door I came out of from here and if I whistled they both would come running, four legs were faster than two.

I climbed out of the closet and walked about four steps to another one of those things. I swung my handle at the thing and I hit it in the throat; however instead of stumbling back or reacting to the blow at all, the thing actually reached forward and grabbed me. Since the handle was still at its throat, when we fell backward I was able to use the handle to keep the snapping jaws away from my face.

"Get off of me!" I said as I tried to find leverage to push off the thing with the handle but couldn't. My arms started to shake as they began to get tired, my aching shoulder wasn't helping the situation at all either.

As the thing started to inch closer because my arms couldn't hold it up anymore, the thing suddenly stopped moving as a black stick with little colorful pieces plastic stuck to the end of it burrowed itself into the thing's head.

Looking in the direction the stick came from, I saw a pale boy holding a crossbow. He around my age with hair that touched his shoulders except for the front which was swept to the right to keep the hair from his face , he was wearing: a sheriff's hat, a long sleeve blue checkered button down shirt, unbuttoned to reveal a grey t-shirt underneath with black jeans, on his wrist was a dirty Hello Kitty bracelet.


	5. Chapter 5

He walked towards me and pushed the thing off of me before pulling his bolt from the thing's head. As I got up he said "Fighting off walkers with a broomstick, you're either really brave or really stupid; I don't know which is worse; call of your dogs, their barking is going to attract more unwanted attention".

"Walkers?" I asked. The boy squatted down and started going through the thing's pockets "This thing, I've named them walkers; but everyone calls them something different" The boy pulled out some cash from the thing's wallet and pocketed it "You're stealing from it?" I asked indignantly.

"Cash ignites easily, it's good for making fires" the boy said shortly as he turned back to the other walkers that were making slow but steady progress towards us "Go back to the Superstore, if you're smart and move quickly, all three of you can make it back and not become lunch" he said before he started to walk away, away from us and the walkers.

"Wait, where are you going?" I asked, not wanting him to leave; obviously he knew how to take care of himself and I didn't have a clue. "To stand still is to die these days" he said over his shoulder without pausing. I looked back to the Superstore, even if I did avoid all these walkers there would be no guarantee that the door would be open.

"Please, take me with you!" I pleaded. The boy turned to look at me for a long moment before glancing at the walkers as he played with the bracelet on his wrist. "Keep up and don't slow me down" he finally said and started walking again; I gave a short whistle, causing Fenris and Shylo to crawl under the car to me.

The boy lead me to an nearby abandoned shoe shop and into the backroom full of shoe boxes that lead into the basement; when we got inside he placed a chair against the door to keep it closed and placed his crossbow and hat on a small end table next to where he had two backpacks.

I was finally able to get a good look at him, he had freckles across his nose and upper cheeks and had pale, icy blue eyes that looked grey in the weak light; he was actually fairly attractive once you got passed the dirt, I couldn't judge though since I haven't had a proper shower in months either.

I went to the far side of the basement, giving the boy his space and room for myself to make sure the girls weren't injured either. He watched me as I checked the girls over and I was starting to feel a little awkward since he hasn't said anything since he saved me.

"So...what's your name? I'm Cole, this is Shylo and that's Fenris" I asked as Shylo was on her back with her paws in the air so I can check that there wasn't any glass in her paws. "Just because I saved you doesn't mean we're friends; I'm just sick of watching people die in front of me" he snapped.

"That's...fair I guess...sorry" I said, a little hurt and taken aback; this was the first person my age I've seen in a long time and I wanted us to desperately become friends, truth be told I was lonely. The boy looked at me and sighed "Names Chandler; I didn't mean to hurt your feelings" he dug around one of his backpacks and pulled out a half empty bottle of water "Here" he said as he took a step toward me, however Shylo and Fenris both stood up and growled at him.

I looked at the beat up plastic bottle "No thanks, I'm fine; plus water must be hard to come by, you should save it" I said. "Water isn't hard to find if you know where to look; leaky pipes are very common since no one repairs them anymore" he said, still holding out the bottle to me.

I took the bottle and both Shylo and Fenris sniffed it "But how? The tap stopped working ages ago". Chandler shrugged "I don't know, my guess is water pressure; all I know is that pipes leak

and the water is clean, that's why I've stayed here". I followed his eyes and saw two pots collecting dripping water from the pipes overhead.

I took a drink of water as Shylo and Fenris hesitantly investigated Chandler; slowly taking a step forward with their ears against their heads, sniffing his still outstretched hand. He tried to pet Shylo but she pulled away from his touch, Fenris however allowed him to touch her.

"Do you like dogs?" I asked as Chandler cautiously stroked Fenris, he shook his head and the sudden movement caused Fenris to pull away and give a low growl at him; she walked over and laid down with her sister whose head was in my lap.

Chandler shook his head again and said "I prefer cats myself, I had two cats, Aether and Aero". "What happened to them?" I asked and as soon as I said it I regretted it "Chandler I didn't-" "They're gone just like everything else is; look just drop it, as soon as the walkers settle down again you'll be out of here anyway" he snapped.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room as Chandler walked over and busied himself with the two backpacks that held his supplies, he seemed to be taking inventory; he had about two days of food left, maybe five if he really pushed it.

"So how long have you been on your own?" I asked cautiously, looking around the room for any other signs of people and seeing none. Chandler didn't answer and I thought he was going to ignore me but he quietly said "Months, I don't keep track of the days anymore; I stopped counting after I spent my forty fifth day alone, when I realized it didn't matter anymore..." "You haven't seen another person in months?" I asked astonished, Los Angeles had a population of over seven million people; to think only a handful survived was impossible to imagine.

"Of course I have, but the living are more dangerous than the dead...you've been hiding inside that Superstore for a long time haven't you?" he asked, changing the subject, I nodded "Since it all started...or at least...what I assume when the start was".

Chandler finally sat on the opposite side from me, eating an energy bar or something and I asked "If the living are more dangerous than the dead...why did you save me?" Chandler answered quietly "Seeing you with that broom, you reminded me of someone". Feeling that we were in dangerous, emotional territory I didn't ask what he meant.

Changing the subject I looked at Shylo who cocked her head at me "My dogs seem to like you, they've stopped growling at least; back at the Superstore they still growl at some people even though we've been living together for half a year". Chandler nodded "They seem to be protective of you...I also saw the amount of control you had over them, very impressive."

I smiled at my dogs from the praise and ruffled Fenris's face "In my free time, which is all of my time, I spent it training these two; which is why I can walk Shylo and Fenris without leashes and they'll stay close by, and why they took down that first walker...if you saw that".

Chandler nodded and on an impulse I blurted out "Come with me, back to the Superstore; you won't be alone anymore". Chandler looked at the bracelet on his wrist before shaking his head "No, thank you". I pressed on "You don't have to live alone Chandler, I can't even imagine how you do it, but you don't need too; come back with me, you said we weren't friends and that's fine...but how long do you think you'll be able to survive on your own?"

"I've survived all this time _because_ I've been alone, it's a lot easier to move and hide without having to... worry about someone else..." he said not looking at me, he trailed off at the end of his sentence as he played with the Hello Kitty bracelet on his wrist again.

"Chandler I-" I started but was cut off "Thank you for the offer Cole but...I'm going to go check if the street's clear yet; walkers don't stay in one spot for very long if there is nothing they want" before I could say anything else Chandler got up, took his crossbow and left.

I sat there for a second before something about Chandler's backpack nagged at me, standing up and walking over I inspected the backpack closer; the pink and purple material of the backpack was covered in dirt that hid marker drawings, little Hello Kitty stickers were stuck to the backpack. I guess he really liked Hello Kitty?

In the small pocket of the backpack there was a picture of Chandler and an adorable little girl maybe thirteen or fourteen making strange handshapes at the camera. The girl must have been his sister since they looked so similar. The picture showed both of them standing in front of a cruise ship, judging from the current length of Chandler's hair to his hair in the photo; the picture wasn't very old. "That's my little sister" Chandler said softly, causing me to jump "Chandler I didn't hear you come in" I said like an idiot.

"Being around walkers will teach you how to be quiet" he said simply as he outstretched his hand. I placed the photo in his hand and he looked at it "The road is clear, you should be able to make it back to the Superstore with no problem if you move quickly" he said to the picture. I moved to the stairs that led to the shop "I hope you change your mind about coming, the offer stands". I gave him one last look, but he wasn't looking at me; he was still looking at the picture.

I peeked out from a crack in the store door, making sure the street was clear but the only thing that moved was trash blown by the breeze. "Let's go girls" I slipped out of the store and held the door open for them; I channeled my inner ninja as I quickly made my way up the street, sticking to the edges of buildings to avoid going into the center of the street, I had small heart attacks each time I had to cross an alley though.

I jumped as a bird took off inside one of the alleys and I actually fell over backwards into a parked car; which of course, set off the car alarm. "You don't deserve to live Cole" I cursed myself as I scrambled to my feet and sprinted down the street, out of the corners of my eyes I saw movement from all sides but didn't allowed myself to look.

I ran until I stepped on a laminated advertising poster, causing it to slip out from under me; immediately a shooting pain shot up from my ankle as I fell again. "Give me a goddamn break" I said through clenched teeth as I held my agonizing ankle. Shylo sniffed me and started whining while Fenris licked my face as if to comfort me.

I looked up, the Superstore was only three blocks away; but because of the car alarm that was still going off, walkers were slowly coming towards the sound and to me. I got up, using a crashed car for support, however any weight put on my ankle was pure torture; I had to check to make sure my ankle wasn't twisted or anything because it hurt so bad, but thankfully it was still pointed straight.

I hobbled and did an awkward one legged hop up the street "To stand still is to die" Chandler's voice nagged at me in my head. As I crossed another of the alleys a walker moaned at me as it outstretched its arms; however another of those black sticks with plastic at the end of it took it down, looking over my shoulder, Chandler ran to me "You're freaking hopeless!" he said exasperated as he took off his crossbow and backpacks and set them down on the pavement.

"Jump on" he said as he kneeled in front of me so he could give me a piggyback ride. Fenris and Shylo loped alongside as Chandler ran to the Superstore with me on his back; he held up my knees and I wrapped my arms around his neck, even though we were literally running for our lives I couldn't help but notice how nice Chandler smelled. I held on to Chandler's hat so the breeze wouldn't blow it away.

Luckily, walkers are slow and we reached the side door of the Superstore before they did; I reached up and pounded on the door with my fist, the door flew open and Pops stood there "Cole! Oh my god! Where the hell have you been?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chandler stood by awkwardly, massaging his shoulders as Dad checked out my sprained ankle while Pops was shouting at me, literally red in the face “Cole are you completely insane!?  Have you gone mad?! Why did you go outside!? What demons possessed you and made you think it was a good idea!? Do you do you have any idea how worried all of us were!?”

Speaking softly to not interrupt Pops, Dad looked at me and said “It’s just a sprain, a nasty one though; you’ll have to keep your weight off of it so it can heal, I’ll go get some crutches and painkillers for you.  I’m very disappointed in your behavior and I was worried sick, but I’m just glad you’re safe” he said with a smile.

When Pops finally finished foaming at the mouth he hugged me roughly “if you ever do anything like that again, I’ll kill you myself” he said as the kissed the top of my head.  I adjusted my glasses since the hug made them crooked as Pops turned to Chandler “Thanks so much for bringing him back” Pops said and Chandler shrugged “My name is Pops and even though we don’t have much we’d be happy share what we do have”.  “Speak for yourself Lou-”James started saying “I swear to God James, just keep talking” Pops said in a low voice.

-

“So you think you’ll stay for a while?” I asked Chandler, taking a seat next to him on some empty boxes, letting my armpits rest from the crutches.  Chandler shrugged “I can’t go anywhere for a while at least, because of that car alarm you set off and the fact that I left everything I had behind”.  “Sorry about that, I’m a disaster” I said, Chandler looked at me for second as if he wanted to say something before turning away and simply saying “It’s fine”.

We sat in silence until Fenris and Shylo suddenly stood up and crouched down, following their snouts a black scurrying creature was making its way across the floor of the warehouse; it was huge, the size of a small cat, rats have grown immensely in size since humans were no longer controlling them via poisons or traps and a lot of food was left just sitting around for them.  “”Gross” I whispered under my breath as the rat scurried along and under one of the shelves.

Fenris and Shylo ran, each on the other side of the shelf so no matter which way the rat ran it wouldn’t escape.  “You’ve train them to hunt?” Chandler asked as Shylo finally caught the rat and shook it roughly from side to side.

I looked at him “No, as they both got bigger their play became more violent towards smaller things and after that it didn’t take long for that play to become predatory…this behavior is usually trained out of house dogs since it leads to the destruction of household objects, but we didn’t since it keeps our living space clean; whenever they killed a rat Dad would reward them so…I guess we did teach them to hunt, in a roundabout way”.  Shylo bounded over and proudly showed me her kill which was hanging lifeless in her jaws.    

“Yuck, don’t give it to me” I said as Shylo dropped the giant rat in front of my legs “Matt…you umm…want some fresh meat?” I called over toward the shelves. “Gimme gimme gimme” he said as he walked over.  “Go nuts bro” I said as he picked up the dead rat before flashing me a smile and walking away.  “We’re running low on food but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat a rat” I said scrunching up my nose to Chandler. 

He ignored me and said instead “I…have a question…You call the one with the long hair…Dad I think his name was? You call him Dad yet the man who looks just like you, you call him Pops?” “They’re my parents” I said bracing myself for his reaction.

“So…you have two dads?” Chandler asked, with an unreadable expression on his face.  I looked away and petted my dogs “Uh…yeah…is that ok?” “I…yeah…it's fine” Chandler said, looking over my head where my parents were making dinner.   

I looked at him, curious by his response and what it meant but I didn’t want to push him away with questions.  “I never thanked you for saving me the second time, it would have been easy for you to walk away…but you came back” I said instead.

I watched as Chandler turned slightly red and looked away, I had to bit my tongue to keep from chuckling as Chandler adorably mumbled “Yeah, no problem”.  Without even thinking about it I placed my hand on his knee, but he suddenly stood up “What are you doing?” he said angrily.

“I…I’m sorry…I didn’t mean…I don’t know…I wasn’t thinking…” but I trailed off as Chandler stomped away from me; at that moment I felt so embarrassed that I nearly wished I was just torn apart by walkers in the street.  Chandler obviously wouldn’t be interested in someone like me, someone that needed to be baby sat; someone that couldn’t even go five city blocks without disaster, he probably wasn’t even gay or bi.

“Why so glum chum?” Uncle Liam said as I went over to join my family at dinner.  “I’m just a screw up” I sighed.  “Everyone make mistakes, I couldn’t tell you the amount of times I got injured when I was training for the fire squad” Uncle Liam said, assuming I was talking about my ankle and my adventure outside.   Uncle Zayn start chuckling as he handed me a bowl of heated canned soup “Yeah seriously, there was a time when Uncle Liam and I were on a first name basis with most of the doctors in the local hospital”.

“Where is your friend? I opened an extra can just for him” Dad said looking around.  “I don’t know” I said, Pops nodded “So tell us about him; he’s very quiet”.  “His name is Chandler, he saved me but he’s been on his own for a long time…he’s an orphan I’m guessing” I explained.  “That poor kid” Uncle Liam commented, “That’s real heavy” Uncle Zayn agreed.

“We’ll just have to make him feel welcome” Pops said, Dad nodded after swallowing a mouthful of noodles “Losing any family is always hard, he’s just a child and his entire family is gone; however we can’t push him, the only thing we can do is be there for him…Cole, try to become his friend, he can probably really use one right now”.

-

Chandler was still gone as we settled down for the night; Dad set a thermos of soup, a granola bar and a bottle of water for him next to an air mattress Uncle Liam and Uncle Zayn set up for him outside of our tent.   Pops wrote “Chandler” on a piece of paper with a marker and set it down on the mattress on top of the blanket for him “Let’s get some sleep, you’ve had an interesting day” Pops said and opened the tent flap so I could crawl inside without my crutches.

As soon as I laid down on my bed, Shylo and Fenris also made themselves comfortable on either side of me.  I snuggled into Shylo’s soft fur and I felt Fenris press right up against my back, dog blankets are the best.

“If you need the bathroom or anything during the night just wake up me up and I’ll help you alright?” Uncle Liam said ruffling my hair as he made his way to his and Uncle Zayn’s mattress.  “Uncle Uncle Liam…does Chandler’s story…do you think we’ll still get rescued? He’s been on his own for a long time which means that…help isn’t coming” I said turning over to look at him over Fenris’s side.

“Cole I think…that we should start planning on rescuing ourselves” Uncle Liam said after a moment “The four of us have also been discussing that same thing, but don’t worry about it Cole; let’s just take the days one at a time like we have been”.

-

I opened my eyes and listened to the soft snores coming from the adults “Uncle Uncle Liam, I need to use the restroom” I whispered to the sleeping shapes.  When no answer came I wiggled out of the tent myself and carefully got up to my feet, already feeling a little bad and not wanting to wake them up. I sighed in relief as I put weight on my bad ankle, thankfully instead of searing pain it was just a dull throbbing ache.

I looked over and was ecstatic to see that Chandler found his bed and ate his dinner; he had both his backpacks and his crossbow next to him, which explains where he went. “Shylo stop it” I whispered as Shylo went over and was sniffing Chandler’s face, with made her sister curious to what she was doing.

Limping back to the tent from doing my business, Shylo and Fenris started to softly whine and they trotted to Chandler’s bed where he was tossing and turning.  “Candy, I’m sorry” he kept repeating over and over in his sleep.

I stood there, unsure of what to do; what if he got mad because I woke him up? I remember when I was younger and had nightmares, Dad or Pops would wake me up and then would lay with me in bed until I fell back asleep...would it be weird if I did it?

I looked back over my shoulder to Chandler who was still tossing and turning as I entered the tent and zipped up the door behind me after the dogs came in.


	7. Chapter 7

I was still doing chores after lunch, cleaning the small propane gas stove that we cooked on; when movement caught my eye, I looked over as Chandler sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Hey have a good sleep?" I asked. "Yeah, thanks" he answered as he put on a shirt; Dad looked up from taking inventory of the medication we had "Hey, how are you feeling?"

Chandler merely nodded, "Good" Dad said "Listen, I'm a doctor so if you have any issues I might be able to help". Chandler nodded again "Thanks, I have a lot of issues...but none you can help with". Before anyone could say anything else though Chandler asked "Where is the bathroom in this place". I answered "Just follow that wall all the way down". As Chandler walked away I heard Pops sigh "Poor kid".

-

As Zayn made dinner Pops suddenly turned to Chandler's empty bed "I just realized, has anyone seen Chandler since he woke up?" I shook my head while Dad said "Now that you mention it, I haven't". "I ran into him earlier today, he said he needed some alone time" Liam said while feeding Faith from a bottle. "I don't think he should be left alone, I'm very concerned for his mental well being" Dad said, frowning "Cole can you check in on him? He seems most comfortable with you, or at least you can get him to respond with more than just nods and shrugs".

"Uh, yeah sure Dad" I said putting down the book I was reading. I went to Chandler's bed, his crossbow was gone but his backpacks were still there. I got on my knees and pointed to his pillow, the girls followed my finger and sniffed it. "Find him" I commanded, the girls looked at me for a moment; this was the first time they did this with someone they didn't really know. "Find him" I said holding the pillow under the girl's noses.

They seemed to catch on, sniffing the bed for a second longer before trotting off in a seemly random direction. They kept their noses to the ground, only lifting them to occasionally sniff a corner or a random object until they lead me to the side exit door.

I stared the door, curious why he left his backpacks here but went outside; he had to have known that this door locked automatically since it's what happened to me. After a second I noticed a little strip of paper wedged between the door and the wall. I opened the door slightly and pulled the paper out; it was keeping the door from automatically locking, clever, this must have been how he got his stuff yesterday.

I saw Chandler sitting on the concrete outside with his back resting on a car, facing away from the Superstore. Slipping the paper back between the door and the wall I let the door close and tested Chandler's idea, it actually worked and I was able to open the door again.

I walked over to Chandler, without my dogs, he was staring at a walker that was about twenty feet away from him; it was slowly moving towards him, however both of its legs were broken and it was dragging itself by its arms.

I wrinkled my nose as I sat down next to Chandler "I didn't know you smoked". Chandler glanced at me from under his hat and pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, holding it between his first two fingers "I didn't, my uncle Norman did; he said it helped him relieve stress, and he was right" he said as he turned his gaze back to the walker.

"You shouldn't smoke, it's not good for your health" I said. Chandler chuckled bitterly and took another drag from his cigarette "If I die from lung cancer instead of being eaten alive; then I would say I lived a successful life".

I decided to drop the psa and instead said "Pops used to smoke...in fact all of them used to except for Dad and Uncle Niall. When my sister and I were born Papa quit and convinced Uncle Zayn and Uncle Liam to quit too". "You have a sister?" Chandler asked quietly.

I nodded and looked at the blue sky "A twin sister, we're fraternal twins; she went to England" I cleared my throat as I started getting choked up "And the day before she was supposed to come back...all this happened".

"I lost my family in the first two weeks...we were hiding in our house when my idiot of a dad opened the door and let them inside" Chandler brought his knees to his chest and folded his arms around his legs, his cigarette lying forgotten on the ground beside him "I ran away, taking my little sister Candice with me...and I...we..." Chandler placed his forehead on his knees to hide the tear sliding down his cheek "I can still hear my parents screams...a while later...my sister...she was only fourteen...".

I didn't know what to say; I've never heard anything so heartbreaking, it finally explains Chandler nightmares though and his pleads for forgiveness from Candy which I assume was short for Candice. "Chandler...I-" I started saying but I stopped as Chandler stood up and grabbed his cigarette. Walking over to the walker he extinguished his cigarette on the walker's forehead; he mumbled something I couldn't hear as he pulled out a knife from his back pocket and stabbed the walker through the skull.

The walker stopped moving but Chandler stayed, squatting in front of it, I jumped as he suddenly shouted in frustration. He pulled out his knife from the walker's head and started stabbing the walker in the back repeatedly, "You took everything from me!" he shouted as he stabbed the walker again and again; after what seemed like an eternity he finally dropped his knife and collapsed on the concrete "She didn't deserve it" he sobbed.

-

Chandler completely shut down after his outburst, refusing to talk to me anymore and just lying on his bed while staring up at the ceiling. "Alright Chandler...umm...if you want to talk or anything I'll be around" I said as I got up from the edge of his bed, he didn't answer or even acknowledge me.

I walked back towards the tent but paused with my hand out stretched to the zipper, shuddering as I heard Dad's high pitched whines and Pop's low moans. Unfortunately I was far too familiar with my parents "love" noises since they still had a very active "love" life. I've walked in on them a couple of times accidentally, especially when I was younger, since Dad didn't believe in locks for some reason.

"Let's go find some tennis balls instead and play fetch" I said to the girls as I fled the noises coming from the tent. I passed Zayn and Liam who were crouched in front of box as Faith was in her playpen; and of course my mind immediately went to the first and only time I walked in on them. Zayn and Liam's "love time" was a completely different beast than my parents; not only were handcuffs, leather and blindfolds involved but I also saw chains, a tomato and a spoon. To this day, twelve years later, I had no idea what was even going on; and I've been on the internet since I was nine.

I grabbed some tennis balls and threw for the girls who chased after them like furry rockets; unfortunately both German Shepherds and Siberian Huskies are known for being very energetic breeds so the girls being a mix of both meant they could literally play for hours. I threw a ball wrong and it ricochet off of a corner of an aisle and went down it; Fenris chased after it, her body crashing into the shelves as she tried to turn too tight and couldn't find any traction on the smooth cement floor.

Fenris soon came back though, but instead of dropping a ball at my feet she dropped a small plastic bottle. "Fen, where did you find this?" I said as I picked up the bottle of painkillers that was completely empty. I got up and walked to the aisle Fenris chased the ball down, down the aisle a ways was the bright yellow ball but behind it was a shape on the ground.

I walked towards it but I stopped in my tracks when I nearly threw up; the mother of Faith, the baby born in the warehouse, was lying on the ground on her back with her eyes open, another empty of pills on the ground beside her.

"Janice...are you ok?" I hesitantly asked, taking a cautious step forward. She didn't react, but there was a sheet of paper beside her; turning my head it read "I'm coming home Roger". I kneeled down beside her, she lay completely still; I grabbed her hand and flinched away as her skin was stone cold.

-

"Cole, are you alright?" Zayn asked, looking up from the box that he and Liam were still bent over "Cole what's wrong?" Liam asked as he stood up and walked over to me; I hugged him tightly and mumbled "Janice is dead" into his shoulder. From the corner of my eye I saw Chandler sit bolt upright.

"Where is she?" Liam asked as he rubbed my back, I took a deep breath and pulled away "I'll show you". I lead Zayn, who held the baby in his arms, and Liam to Janice's body and was surprised when Chandler tagged along.

When we came to the body Liam kneeled beside it, putting on some rubber gloves from his pocket, he placed two fingers on the side of Janice's neck to check for a pulse "She's been dead for awhile, the body is already cold" he finally said, taking off the gloves before taking the baby that Zayn held out to him.

Chandler approached Liam and said "You need to destroy her brain". "...What?" Liam asked, shocked. "She's going to come back as walker" Chandler said urgently. Liam sighed and place a fatherly hand on Chandler's shoulder "Chandler, I know you've been through a lot, I get that; but you're safe here, you don't need to worry about anything, whatever is going on outside can't come in here".

"Liam, you don't understand; whenever you die you become one of those things, I've seen it happen before" Chandler insisted. Liam took his hand off Chandler's shoulder and handed me the baby who was chewing on her fist. "Cole can you do me a favor and change her diaper she's a little wet, and Chandler if you can feed her it'll be really helpful".

-

Chandler had been agitated ever since Janice died but finally seemed to have calmed down into a grumpy silence; I couldn't tell if he was actually grumpy or if it was his default emotion. "I don't like the idea of sleeping in the same building with a dead body" Liam said as we settled down for the night.

Zayn sighed "We couldn't move her, she was too heavy and we didn't have anything to move her with; Scott's putting together a makeshift wagon thing tonight and first thing in the morning we'll go bury her". Liam nodded and set down the baby to sleep, I looked up as Chandler popped in his head in the tent and said "Hey Cole...um...can we talk?"

I looked at my parents who nodded, I crawled out of the tent "What's up". I followed as Chandler went to his bed and sat down on it, I sat across from him and pushed Shylo's face away from mine. "Do...do you want to play a game?" Chandler asked as pulled a deck of cards from his pocket. "Yeah, sure" I answered, slightly confused.

"Let's make it more interesting; if I win I can ask you a question, if you win you can ask me a question...deal?" he said as he shuffled the cards "I suck at cards" I said giving a small sigh "Do you know how to play blackjack?" he asked, continuing to shuffle, when I nodded he started dealing cards "Ace's high, remember: you're trying to reach twenty-one but if you go over you automatically lose; person with the hand closest to twenty one wins".

We played a hand in which I actually won; giving the cards back to Chandler for a reshuffle I asked "so how old are you?" "Eighteen, to be honest I'm probably nineteen now but I have no idea what day or month it even is" he responded, "It's the sixteenth of June 2031, I keep a calendar to keep track of the girl's flea medications, they're monthly" I said. Chandler nodded as he dealt the cards again "Then I'm still eighteen for a couple more weeks".

Chandler won the next hand and asked "Your entire family has an English accent but you don't, why?" I chuckled "My sister and I were born here so we talk "normal" but I can turn on my accent" I said switching into my English accent, just by slightly changing pronunciation and emphasis "My family goes to England every year for the holidays so I picked up; and for the record Uncle Liam and Uncle Zayn aren't actually in my family, there just my parent's best friends". Chandler nodded and reshuffled the cards.

I won the next hand so I asked in my normal voice "Have you lived in Los Angeles your whole life?" Chandler shook his head "I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia but we moved out here four years ago because my father thought my little sister needed extra help". "Help?" I asked but Chandler shook his head "You need to win again to ask another question"

Chandler won the next hand of cards, looking at me dead in the eye he asked, point blank "Are you gay?" I blinked at him, completely caught off-guard, but I slowly nodded. Chandler stared at me for a moment longer before taking the cards and shuffling them again.

Chandler won the next hand and he asked, with a hint of sadness and regret in his voice "Why do you care about me? You don't even know me. I keep brushing you off but...you won't go away" there was no hint of annoyance or anger in his voice. I shifted in my seat confused by his question, what did he want to hear? "I...I don't know" I finally said.

Chandler sighed and stared my dogs for a moment before gathering the cards again and shuffling them. I won the next hand and carefully I asked "Why are we playing this game?" Chandler played with the four of diamonds between his fingers, not answering for an almost awkward period of time, he finally said "Because...I have issues opening up and I thought this would help."

Before I could say anything else Chandler grabbed the cards and shuffled again, I won the hand and I asked "Does that mean...you're planning on staying here, or at least with us?" Chandler at his shoes for a long moment before looking away and only nodding. I took the cards and shuffled them, I wasn't as good as he was but at least they didn't explode and go flying everywhere. I won the next hand so I asked "Are you saying here...because of me?"

Chandler took the cards as if to shuffle them again, without even looking at me or answering the question, "I'm tired" was all he said in explanation. "I'm glad you're staying" I said as I stood up to leave, I didn't want t o make it more uncomfortable for him than it already was "I'll see you tomorrow". He nodded and placed his hat on the side of his bed, still not looking at me.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hey guys I got some messages about this so let me clear up some confusion. Cole has two dads obviously: Louis as Harry; however there are some questions about how he addresses them so let me just clear the air before the chapter starts.
> 
> Cole will call Louis Pops/Papa, when speaking directly to him and father when speaking about him. Cole will only refer to and call Harry, Dad. For example if he says "My father loves fast food but my dad has always been super healthy" or "My dad always wears name brand clothes but my father doesn't, unless its Adidas" or "Pops can I have some ice cream? Dad said it was OK".
> 
> It's a subtle but Cole will never call Harry father or Louis dad since they're different in his mind. If you're still confused about father vs dad send me a message and I'd be more than happy to explain it another way for you :)
> 
> Now without further adieu, Chapter 8 of New World

Cole's POV

As I went back to the tent I heard Dad and Zayn arguing in quiet tones. "Zayn, what is this? I thought we agreed to take only what we need" I heard Dad say. "I am" Zayn said simply. "You are? Zayn this is far more than we agreed on; you're going to take everything from these people!" Dad shot back. "Our lives are more important" Zayn said with no emotion and no remorse, as if he was pointing out that water was wet.

"More important?! Zayn these are actual living people we're talking about! No person is more important than another!" Dad said, anger rising in his voice. "Yeah? So you're telling me that you wouldn't do everything in your power to make sure Cole is safe and fed, even above yourself?" I...that's completely different!" Dad retorted. "Is it? Harry we need these supplies...we need to look after ourselves first...you already lost your daughter, do you want to lose your son too?"

It went silent in the tent and I ran to the back of the tent to hide as the zipper started moving and the flap to the tent opened. Dad stormed out and from inside the tent I heard Pops say "I can't believe you said that Zayn, Harry wait!" half a second later Pops was jogging after Dad. "I'm not wrong" Zayn said, probably to Liam; Liam replied "No you're not...but you could have worded it better, love".

"Cole we need to talk" Zayn said as I entered the tent, he Liam sat together in the tent, I sat on my bed and faced them "About what? I didn't do anything wrong". "You're not in trouble, but we told you earlier that we're leaving; have you started packing anything yet?" Zayn asked.

I shook my head, "We can't stay here any longer Cole" Zayn said as he handed me a dark green duffle bag "Before you go to sleep you should fill this up, now off you go" As I crawled out of the tent again Zayn added "Don't let anyone see you, just to avoid awkward questions".

I randomly wandered around the warehouse several times, packing whatever food and water I stumbled across and some dog supplies like flea and tick prevention, some toys and the girl's favorite cans of dog food.

We passed Janice's body, which was wrapped in a tarp; I sighed and then froze as I thought I saw the tarp move. I stared at it as Shylo went to the bag to sniff it before she started to whine "Yeah, let's get out of there" I said to them and jogged back to the tent, creeped out.

As I got closer to the tent I heard Chandler mumbling in his sleep, begging for Candy's forgiveness again. I watched him in sympathy until I got some courage; taking off my bag I crawled into bed with him and whispered "It's alright" over and over like my parents used to do when I was younger and had nightmares; sometimes their voices would reach through my nightmare and make everything better.

He finally quieted down, whether from what I was doing or if his nightmare ended I wasn't sure. I turned over to my side, with my back facing Chandler so I could get off his bed but I stopped as Chandler whispered "You don't have to go". I looked over my shoulder but Chandler still had his back to me; I thought about for a moment before laying back down, as soon as I did I felt the bed shift as Chandler moved.

Chandler pulled the blanket over me and his hand rested for a moment on my side before sliding back down to his side of the bed. Reaching behind me, I found his wrist and pulled it over me until his hand rested on my chest; as I pulled, Chandler scooted forward until my back was pressed right up against his chest and I shivered slightly as I felt his warm breath on the back of my neck. "Goodnight" I whispered "...Thanks...you too..." his adorably awkward response came before I felt him rest his cheek on my shoulder.

-

Chandler's POV

Cole and I sat on a grassy hill overlooking the city as his dogs ran circles around us, chasing birds as they flew overhead. He and I were talking easily, actually telling jokes and laughing with each other instead of the awkward conversations we shared earlier; in a casual motion he took off my hat and placed it over his own head "Give it back, you know what it means to me" I said with very slight annoyance, trying to grab it but Cole moved his head away before saving "If you want it, come and get it".

"What if I want something else as well" I said, placing a flirty hand on the inside of Cole's knee and slowly, ever so slowly, dragging it upwards. His knees and legs opened, but it was the only response he gave other than biting his lower lip. I scooted closer and our lips met, Cole wrapped his arms around my shoulders and dragged me down on top of him; I adjusted myself so I was laying on top of him, between his legs. As we kissed I took my hat off his head, which caused him to chuckle against my lips.

I turned as I felt a presence watching us; it was Candy, as pretty as she was before and very much human, I choked when I saw her and stood up. "I'm happy you're finally starting to move on" she said with her hands "You've always had a nice smile Big Bro, I missed it" she glanced at Cole "And he's really cute". When I didn't react to her joke she signed with a sad smile "Please stop being angry with yourself, it wasn't your fault, there wasn't anything you could do...please Chan, stop beating yourself up over what happened to me, don't feel guilty. It. Wasn't. Your. Fault."

I woke up to Cole softly running his fingers through my hair, my cheeks wet from the tears; he didn't say anything as I sobbed silently into his chest, gripping his shirt as if it was my only tether to this world.

"I can't even imagine what you must think of me" I mumbled into his chest. "I think you must have loved your sister very much, and I think that you're not so cold and uncaring as you try to make yourself seem like" he said, still running his fingers through my hair.

We laid there in silence; I huddled against Cole's chest as if his arms would protect me from regret and guilt. As a scream sounded in the warehouse, I got on top of Cole; shielding his body with mine; I didn't occur to me how sexual the position we were now in was, the survival and protect instinct just took over.

I realize what we looked like as Cole's family spilled out of the tent with flashlights, I rolled off of him quickly but it only made it seem more suspicious, "Cole, you want to explain what's going on?" Louis asked sounding very displeased and on the verge of anger. "Cole was that noise you? Oh great, he's a screamer, just like his dad" Liam sighed heavily. "Excuse you Liam, I'm right here" Harry protested. "At least he knows how to get his pants on quickly" Zayn chuckled. "Cole get inside the tent, we'll discuss this in the morning" Louis said, ignoring the jokes around him.

"Louis what's the harm? They're both boys; I can understand your anger when it was Anastasia and her boyfriend but as long as they were being safe...were you two being safe?" Harry asked. "Dad!" Cole sputtered indignantly "It wasn't what it looked like!"

"Is everyone ok? We heard a scream" someone asked walking over with a flashlight. "We're fine, sorry to wake you up" Harry said. "Papa we weren't doing anything wrong and it wasn't me who screamed" Cole tried to explain as the other person walked away.

"Cole Joseph Tomlinson, get inside the tent right now; this conversation is over; your father and I will discuss an appropriate punishment later" Louis said in a stern voice. "Papa you aren't listening!" Cole said, frustration creeping in his voice "Chandler and I weren't doing anything weird! I don't even think he likes me like that!"

I didn't look at Cole, keeping my eyes firmly on Liam's shoes; I didn't want to make it worse for him. Louis opened this mouth to say something but another scream cut him off. "They got inside!" someone shouted. Flashlights clicked on throughout the warehouse, creating a dizzying light display as everyone started panicking. Instinctively we all ducked down as a gunshot rang out. "Get the baby! We're leaving" Zayn said running back to the tent where the screaming baby was.

They ran back out, carrying the baby and several bags as I grabbed my backpacks "Are you coming with us?" Liam asked me, directly. "We could use your help" Zayn added. I shouldn't go with them, they would eventually end up like all the others: either splintering apart or destroyed. If anything happened to any of them, especially Cole and the baby, I don't think my sanity could handle it; if I wasn't around them, I could at least lie to myself and tell myself they were fine and were going to make it.

"No" I said bending down to pick up my crossbow and my hat. "Good luck" Was all Louis said before grabbing Cole by the arm before he could say anything and running toward the side door as another scream broke out. I ran away from them, remembering the giant loading doors where trucks used to drop off their hauls; experience saying to walk away from people when trying to escape.

I ran past people in the middle of fighting off the walkers, not bothering to help them; self preservation was my only thought. Outside of the warehouse I stopped a block away to catch my breath, the roar of an engine made me look over my shoulder; Zayn got a pick-up truck to work and was putting the baby inside the truck as Liam and Louis fought off walkers with what looked like a pipe and a baseball bat while Harry and Cole quickly threw all of their bags in the back of the truck, where the dogs were.

I sighed in relief as all of them got into the truck and drove away, running over three walkers as they escaped the parking lot; as the engine of their truck got fainter I turned and walked down the street again to find shelter; the noise from their truck would attract walkers and since it was dark because it was still night time, they would have the advantage.

I went into a nearby building that used to be a restaurant, judging by the tables. I grabbed a plate that was on one of the tables and threw it against a wall like a frisbee, hoping the noise would attract anything lurking deeper inside the restaurant. Sure enough one lone walker stumbled out from the kitchen area and I killed it with my hunting knife. Loading my crossbow I slowly checked the entire restaurant, banging against walls and doors so any walkers inside would come out and not catch me by surprise.

Finding nothing else I sat down, leaning against the wall of the kitchen after taking off my backpacks; I pulled out my pack of cigarettes and plastic lighter from one of the smaller pockets and sighed to myself as I lit it. Closing my eyes I let the smoke dull this strange pain I was feeling in my chest. I almost started laughing out loud as I realized that I was actually feeling loneliness for the first time in forever; I actually missed Cole already. 

-  
  


The next morning I made my way back to the Superstore, and even though I knew it was a bad idea, I followed the tire tracks; walking along side the bloody marks from where they ran over the walkers. "You're an idiot Chandler, you know exactly how this is going to end: disaster" I said outloud as I stepped over the body of a walker, its head crushed by the tires of the truck.

 


	9. Chapter 9

Louis's POV

I sat across from Cole in the back of the truck with most of the bags and his dogs, the sky turning a pale shade in pink in the early morning light. I sighed as he refused to look at me, petting his dogs instead; he was seething in anger which was highly uncharacteristic of him, he was always happy-go-lucky.

Cole was extremely slow to anger like Harry, and like Harry, Cole was usually very patient; however while he inherited Harry's patience, kindness and forgiveness, he also inherited Harry's explosive temper. Far beneath all the layers of smiles and laughter, both of them had a temper; a dormant volcano.

Because Cole got angry so rarely he didn't really know how to deal with it. I've only seen Cole this angry once, when he was fourteen: someone ran over a stray cat in front of our house and didn't stop to check if it was ok; the driver just kept on going. We took the injured cat to the veterinarian, but there was nothing they could do, so they put the cat to the sleep to put it out of it's misery.

Back home Cole completely erupted, not only shouting but actually throwing things, thankfully his anger wasn't directed at any of us. I remember that day clearly because Harry and I had no idea what to do since this never happened before; obviously Cole has gotten angry and annoyed in the past but never like that...or like he currently was in front of me.

"Cole, son, what's wrong?" I asked, but he ignored me so I tried "Is it because of what happened at the warehouse? There was nothing we could do for them, we had to escape". "You chased away Chandler" he said in a low, angry voice "And you didn't even let me say goodbye". I nodded, understanding "You really liked him didn't you?" He snorted "It doesn't matter now".

I studied my son, trying to think of the best course of action, a distraction is what he needed. I smiled "Did I ever tell you the story about when your father and I first met? In 2008?" Cole finally looked at me "You and Dad met on the X-factor, in 2010". I shook my head "The first time we _actually_ met was in 2008 at a concert for a band The Script. We were standing in line for food, well he was in front of me, but I knew I just had to talk to him so I stepped on the back of his shoe; I said "Oops" and then your father turned to look at me and he said "Hi?", we started talking but in that short conversation I forgot to ask for his name, number, email or anything.

I sighed and looked at the sunrise "For two years I kicked myself whenever I thought about it; until 2010 came and I tried out for the X-factor, in the restroom at the X-factor someone bumped into me and said "Oops" when I turned, I saw it was that same boy so I said "Hi". I looked at Cole who was actually smiling, his anger momentarily forgotten; he was a hopeless romantic, just like this father "The point, Cole, is that fate is real; if it was meant to be then you'll find each other again".

I sighed "I'll admit that I should have given you a chance but my only thought was to protect my family; I apologize Cole" I said truthfully. Cole nodded "I know, but still..." I crawled toward my son, not wanting to stand up since the truck was still moving; not fast enough to make me fly off since there was so many obstructions on the road but just fast enough to make it dangerous.

When I finally reached him I sat right next to him and place my arm over his shoulders "If...When we meet Chandler again I'll behave next time...as long as you do, deal?" I said, Cole nodded and placed his head on my shoulder before saying "Do you realize the only time we hug is when something is wrong?" he said.

"That's not true" I said trying to look at him but he didn't move his head. "Yes it is Pops, I get it, and I'm not angry about it; Ana was more sporty and loud like you so naturally you clicked better with her and I clicked better with Dad because of our personalities".

"Listen to me Cole; I love you and your sister equally, if you think differently than it's my fault-" I was cut off by the truck engine as it started to sputter and eventually died. "I don't suppose you have any gas?" Zayn said, sticking his head out of the window. "You chose a truck that had no gas? We've only been driving for like half an hour!" I said in disbelief. "I was more worried about starting the engine than checking if there was fuel" Zayn defended himself.

Liam and Harry got out of the truck; Harry quickly helped Liam put on a harness on his chest for the baby. "What if we just siphon some gas from these cars" Harry suggested as he tightened the straps of the harness. "I don't have anything for siphoning" Zayn said, I quickly went through the bags "None of us do" I sighed. "So on foot it is" Liam said, buckling in the sleeping baby to the harness on his chest. "But where we will we go?" Harry asked.

"There is a police station down that street" Cole said, standing on top of a the truck and pointing to the south "We gotta hurry though, we have company" he said, looking over his shoulder. Some of those dead things were drawn by our voices and made slow but steady progress towards us.

We quickly grabbed all of our bags and briskly walked down the street; Cole said that the infected couldn't run so we didn't either, we just tried to stay four steps ahead of them. I was the first to reach the door and pulling it open I allowed my family to enter first. "We need to lock the door" Zayn said, looking around.

There was several chairs, benches and filing cabinets in the front room and as if we all had the same thought we all pushed the furniture against the front door. We all took a step back as the things started to push up against the doors; but the doors were pull to open and the makeshift barricade we made would help keep the doors closed even if they did somehow overpower the hinges and door frame. "I just hope none of those things are inside" Zayn said, thinking out loud as he turned from the doors of the police station.

"We should check it out, Zayn" I said to him before turning to everyone else "In case things go wrong you guys need to escape". "Let me come too" Cole said "The girls can somehow sense those things, they might be able to give us advanced warning so we don't walk into any". It was well known that Cole's dogs really only liked him; the rest of us could pet them and everything but they wouldn't follow our commands or stray too far from Cole.

"Fine, but stay behind me" I said, grabbing the wooden baseball bat from one of the bags. Zayn picked up the pipe and nodded at me before walking over to the door leading deeper inside the station and slowly opening it. The hallway was dark since there was no windows and obviously no electricity; Zayn allowed the dogs to squeeze past him, their curiosity driving them forward, Cole handed me two flashlights, keeping one I gave Zayn the other.

"Ready?" Zayn asked, as we approached the first door in the hallway. I nodded and gripped the baseball tighter; Zayn opened the door and we ran in, but it was empty. It seemed to be an office area, empty desks with computers sat in neat rows "Check everything, take everything; we don't know what will be useful" Zayn said as he walked up to the nearest desk and started opening the drawers.

We checked the entire floor which seemed to be just offices; we found some snacks but nothing really that important, disappointingly the kitchen area only had coffee and tupperware with food that has long since been made inedible.

"And down to the depths of Hell we go" Cole said as we stood on top of a staircase staring down the into the darkness of what seemed to be a lower level, there was a locked door at the top of the stairs but it wasn't closed.

"I'm fairly certain this is how several horror movies start" Cole continued to say "a group of guys on top of a darkened staircase holding flashlights". "I'm more worried about you two, it's always the white guys that die first" Zayn said chuckling "As half Pakistani I'm safe". "We have to check anyway, make sure it's safe" I said as I started going down the stairs, following the furry shapes of Cole's dogs.

At the bottom of the stairs his dogs immediately made their way to another door and staring growling, staring at the door. I took a deep and looked over my shoulder to glance at Zayn who nodded and grabbed the pipe with both hands; slowly opening the door and peeking inside I could hear the same groaning as the warehouse.

"They're trapped" I said, opening the door and shining the flashlight inside the door. The room was a holding cell and about fourteen or so walkers were inside the cell. "I didn't know jails actually held people" Cole said. "They usually don't but they'll hold violent people until they get transferred somewhere else and they'll keep people that are drunk or high here overnight so they don't try to drive or something" Zayn explained. We walked out of the room, leaving the walkers inside the jail cell; there were three more doors down here, but they were all locked and closed, one was labeled "Armory" the second "Evidence" and the third "Contraband".

"We'll be safe here" I said, joining everyone else in the lobby. "The walkers won't stay outside long" Cole said "I remember Chandler saying once that they have a short attention span and will move on". Harry nodded "Then let's have some breakfast and think of a plan".

Cole's POV

"West, our best bet is to go to Marina Del Rey or Long Beach, finding a boat and escaping this godforsaken place for the ocean; I can't imagine the walkers are swimmers" Zayn was saying. "No, we need to go East" Pops argued "The Rocky Mountains would be the perfect spot to hide and wait for all of this to blow over. What happens when we run out of water on your boat Zayn? In the mountains we can set up a camp near a river or something and live off the land; and the best part is that the mountains are secluded, no one there to become walkers".

"There are flaws with both your plans" Liam pointed out diplomatically "I was a firefighter true, but I also assisted in search and rescue; mate its a hell of a lot harder to survive in the wild than you think. Every year or so a group of people would wander into the wilds trying to "get away from it all and return to the earth" or something; they usually lasted about two weeks, a month if they were prepared, before we had to be called in and rescue them when they started getting sick or started to starve.

Liam went on "And Zayn, babe, a boat is just as dangerous; exposure and dehydration can kill a person in days. The issue with a boat is that there will be very little ways to refill our water and if we run out of gas; we'll literally be stuck in the middle of the ocean without a paddle"."I'm not saying we try to cross the Pacific ocean or go to Hawaii or something; we take a boat and try to scavenge off the coast" Zayn rebuttaled.

I sighed and walked away from the conversation, I could feel Dad watching me leave but he didn't try to stop me since Pops and Zayn said the place was safe; the locked doors on the bottom level really intrigued me, imagine what could be inside the Evidence room! Maybe I could solve a cold case like on the tv shows...probably not but maybe! I checked the office desks again, someone had to have had an extra key right? Besides, trying to get inside those rooms would keep my mind from wandering to Chandler.  


	10. Chapter 10

Chandler's POV

It wasn't hard to track down their truck, I just had to follow the walkers; walkers went in the same direction when they heard something and would continue to walk in that direction until they heard something else that made them change direction, as far as I could tell. I walked behind the parade of the dead, killing walkers from behind with my knife; I vaguely impressed when I looked over my shoulder to the trail of dead walkers behind me.

I followed the walkers until I walked passed a truck, I quickly glanced at it; it was Cole's truck, the red smear marks on the truck behind the tires confirmed it. They weren't anywhere to be seen though; I walked towards the closest building; a barber shop to look around, thinking they were inside. I went inside cautiously, but nothing was inside; loading my crossbow I quietly made my way to the back of the barber shop that was hidden by a curtain.

I pulled back the curtain at the exact same time that something barreled out and tackled me to the ground; on reflex I pulled the trigger on my crossbow and my attacker cursed loudly in a language I didn't understand as the bolt buried itself into his shoulder. Since I shot him at point blank range the head of the bolt went completely through his shoulder and I could see the metal tip poking out of his back as we both fell to the floor.

The guy was on top of me, trying to pin me down but I grabbed the bolt and yanked on it; causing him to howl in pain as the bolt snapped the the wound became larger, which made him ease his grip just enough for me to wiggle out.

I scrambled to my feet but he was right behind me, grabbing a can of hairspray or some hair product I sprayed it in his face; as he held his face in his hands, I tried to find any escape but he was blocking my way to the door so I ran to the back instead. Turning the corner behind the curtain, I found myself staring down the wrong end of a gun.

"Elias, you seriously let a kid kick your ass?" the woman said, still pointing her gun in my face. She was a black woman, probably actually from Africa based on her accent "He fights like the Devil himself and you said to not kill him" a male voice responded in a heavy russian accent, from the other room.

"I believe him, if looks could kill you'd be lying on the floor Azusa; that kid was fire behind those blue eyes" my eyes darted to another woman that I didn't see, she must have been french, her accent gave it away. What, did these people walk out from a United Nations meeting? What were the chances walking into a russian man, a frenchwoman and an african woman?

"I feel like we got off on wrong foot" the african girl Azusa said "Put your weapons on the floor and I'll put my gun away". "Go to Hell" I snarled, as if i would trust complete strangers. "We don't mean you any harm, Elias was only supposed to make sure _you_ weren't going to hurt _us_ , but as usual the Russians have no tact" The french girl said "My name is Carrie, this is Azusa and that bear of a man is Elias; what is your name?"

I just stared at the two women and didn't say anything; the man came back into the room and frisked me, taking my crossbow and the hunting knife I had in my back pocket. I would have fought back but Azusa still had her gun on me, if I was dead I couldn't escape and find Cole again.

When I continued to be silent Elias praised "I like you, little man, you must have some Russian blood yes? Only a Russian would still be stubborn while staring down a gun" he chuckled as he placed my weapons and backpacks on a desk across the room; other than his bloodshot eyes and him holding his shoulder you wouldn't have guessed that he was injured.

Since I didn't say anything Carrie asked "How long have you been alone for? It must have been hard on you". "Not any harder than being held against my will at gunpoint" I spat. She walked over to the desks and opened my backpacks, taking out the food and supplies I had in them; I stiffened as she took out the picture of my family from Candy's backpack.

She studied it for a moment before putting it back "He's fine". Azusa nodded and finally put down the gun "You can't trust strange these days" was her attempt at an apology. I looked over her shoulder as the french girl gave me back my backpacks and the russian man had a silver packaged thing, like a wrapper in his hands.

"You should come with us, we have a camp at the airport, LAX; we could use someone who has a fire in his soul like you do. The airport is safe, we have many guns" the french girl said. The russian man chuckled "Little man won't come with us, I understand; take this, it helps you" the russian man said offering the packaged object to me.

I stared at the silver wrapper but made no attempt to reach for it the African girl sighed "Inside contains high grade, standard issue military field rations; they can keep a person alive for seven days. Take it, and if you change your mind about the whole lone wolf thing, come to the airport. You'll be safe there, the military made it into a safe area; we are out here to try to save as many people we can".

The french girl sighed "It's a shame, we saw a group of men with a baby pass by here but the...the... _mort_...I do not know the english word, kept us from approaching them; and now we can't get to them since they're held up in that police station".

-

Outside the group of people went one way and I went the other; they offered again for me to go with them to the airport but obviously I wasn't just going to go with strangers. I looked around, trying to find the police station the french girl mentioned; I spotted a building further down that had a group of walkers trying to get inside.

I quietly walked over and hid behind a car, watching the walkers claw at the door; picking up a small piece of concrete from the broken sidewalk I threw it as hard as I could at a car further down the street, shattering the window. The walkers turned as just as I predicted went to investigate the noise.

As the walkers moved on I didn't bother trying the door since anyone with half a brain would have locked it; I circled the building, trying the windows but all of them were locked. There was one small window very close to the ground, which was strange; I squatted down and studied it, it was just barely wide enough for me, for once I was actually glad I couldn't gain any muscle.

Taking out my hunting knife, I used the tip to unscrew the four screws holding a metal mesh grate to keep people from breaking the window, the irony wasn't lost on me that there was a surveillance camera pointed directly at me. Taking off the grate I pushed against the glass window and it easy opened; I poked my head inside to make sure I wouldn't fall into a walker or anything, the inside seemed to be an office of someone important. Inside was a lone desk with a computer, surrounded by file cabinets and chairs.

Seeing the office was empty I threw down my bags and slid into the office on my stomach, trying to dig my shoes into the dirt outside the office to slow my fall; gravity however had other plans and I fell into the office, landing hard on my right shoulder and making a horrible popping noise. "Goddamn it" I cursed under my breath as i tried to move my arm but it just hung there useless, and the the pain hit.

Falling to my knees I gritted my teeth and tried not to scream as the most intense pain I've ever felt shot through my body from my shoulder. I crawled over and slowly dug through my backpack looking for the pain meds I knew I had in there; using my knife to puncture the pill bottle since I didn't have both hands to open the safety cap, I swallowed four pills with the last of my water. If Cole and his family weren't in this place I'd be up the creek without even a boat, let alone a paddle; no water and broken shoulder, I knew trying to follow Cole would only end in disaster.

I left my bags and crossbow in the room as I unlocked the door and peek outside, it was empty. I looked around, the room I was in seemed to be under the stairs hidden from sight, looking at the door it read Chief's Office; holding my knife with my good hand, I cautiously went up the stairs and listened but heard nothing.

I nearly had a heart attack as something quickly turned the corner and looked at me; I let out a huge sigh as it was one of Cole's dogs, the dog as if sensing my thankfulness, gave me a wolfish grin.

"Shylo, what are you doing?" I heard Cole say; Cole turned the corner and stopped in his tracks. He stared at me for several moments before giving one of the largest smiles I've ever seen on a person "You came back" he said in a soft voice; almost like a whisper.

As always, I immediately became awkward and tongue tied; I looked down at the floor "Yeah..." I said pathetically. Cole raised his arms as if to hug me but let them fall to his sides again, I smirked "If you want to hug me, I'd really like it; my shoulder it killing me right now". "What happened to your shoulder?" Cole asked, concerned. "I think I broke it, it's killing me and I can't move it" I said, before I could finish my sentence Cole ran down the hall, yelling "Dad! Chandler hurt his shoulder!".  


	11. Chapter 11

Dad gently ran his fingers across Chandler's shoulder before saying "Well good news, I don't think it's broken Chandler. I think you just injured your rotator cuff; the actual joint inside the shoulder, the delayed pain response is highly unusual in broken bones. You should be able to move your arm again in a few days to a couple weeks once your joint heals" Dad said as he helped Chandler back into his shirt. "I have a sling in one of bags, it will help keep your shoulder still so it can heal faster".

As Chandler and Dad walked away Pops turned to me "Ok Cole we need rules". "What?" I asked "Pops you said...in the truck..." "I know what I said, and if I recall we made a deal, so here are the rules: You and Chandler will not be allowed to sleep on the same bed, under no circumstances. I fully expect you and Chandler to stay within sight of your father or I at all times".

I stared at my father, completely blown away by these rules, I was eighteen! "You know Pops, I have a couple of leashes for the girls; should I put one on as well?" I asked sarcastically. "That'll only be if you brake the rules" Pops said with an equally sarcastic smile. I turned to Liam and Zayn for support but they've long since learned to stay out of Tomlinson family struggles. "Fine" I said shortly before stomping out of the room.

We stayed at the station for three days; my parents extremely hesitant to go anywhere, Chandler told us about a run-in he had with some strange people and their base at the airport but they immediately shot down the idea, pointing out that the airport was literally on the other side of Los Angeles from where we currently were. They didn't have any other plans though so we waited and twiddled our thumbs while Pops and Zayn bickered over which direction to go.

Pops kept his promise,Chandler and I slept on opposite sides of the room when we did sleep together but we only slept in the same room the first night; after that he slept in the chief's office after Dad, very kindly, kicked him out since his nightmares wouldn't let any of us sleep. At the warehouse it didn't bother any of us since Chandler went to sleep after everyone else did but the pain meds Dad had him on made him drowsy.

One thing I have noticed though since he came back was that he hung around me more; I say hang around and not hang with, since while he was usually in the same room as I was now, he wouldn't talk to me anymore than he did before. The two of us would have long periods of silence; but strangely, it wasn't awkward.

Other than that, Chandler didn't act any differently than he did at the warehouse, which was slightly disappointing if I was being honest; I didn't expect him to, like, kiss me or anything, but it would have been nice if he gave me _any_ clues into what he was feeling, one way or the other.

I was starting to doubt if he liked me at all, or just saw me as a friend; it would have been easier to figure out what a brick wall what it was feeling. I still haven't seen a genuine Chandler smile, much less a laugh, which was heart breaking; he just gave little smirks or crooked smiles that quickly faded.

Chandler, even with an injured shoulder, would still vanish from time to time; using chairs to crawl in and out the small window in the chief's office. That was one aspect of him that I completely didn't understand, sometimes he would come back smelling faintly of cigarettes but not always; yesterday I tried to ask casually where he always went but he just shrugged and I didn't push the issue.

-

I went downstairs with a couple of tennis balls; it was the only place large enough to play with the girls; they were both going stir crazy confined to such a small space. As I went down stairs I saw that the armory doors were open; I saw Chandler inside holding, with his good hand, what looked to be a vest of some kind.

"Knock, knock" I said, poking my head inside "Hey" Chandler said after glancing at me. "How did you get inside?" I asked, nearly falling over as the girls shoved passed me to investigate the room, they seemed more interested in what Chandler was holding though.

"I found a key in one of the drawers in the office" he explained "Hey, do you know what this is? I think it's a bulletproof vest but it's way too small and has like six holes" he said, holding it out to me. I took it and chuckled after a second "It's not made for humans, look" I said, pulling apart the velcro and squatting down in front of Shylo.

Shylo rolled on her back and started walking backwards, trying to get the unfamiliar vest off. "Interesting, I wonder how they would protect against walkers..." Chandler said as Shylo tried to take off the vest with her teeth "I'm guessing these are also for dogs too?" holding a little piece in fabric in his hand, smaller than his palm. I nodded and took it from his hand "They were in the Superstore too, they protect their paws from glass and such, they also sold some to protect against their paws from frostbite".

Chandler nodded and looked around the room, at the racks and shelves, it was empty except for the dog equipment "To be honest I was hoping for guns though, or even ammo". "Let's go check the evidence room, maybe there are...like...murder weapons there?" I offered.

The evidence room was filled with objects in labeled plastic bags; objects ranging from forks to shoes to laptops to jewelry. What caught my eye though was a long leather tube or something at the end of the room, walking over to it was actually the scabbard of a sword "Intended murder weapon, case number 14a" the sticker on the scabbard read.

"Now that's badass" Chandler said as I drew the blade. the sword was nearly as tall as I was; the handle, or hilt, was about a foot long and the blade itself was about four feet long, it was very light though. "I'm going to keep it" I said, Chandler nodded "Silence is the best weapon against walkers "Maybe you should start out with something...more...practical and...less...dangerous...like this" Chandler said taking a knife out of another plastic bag.

We didn't find anything else inside the evidence room other than handguns with no bullets and empty bullet casings; Chandler still tried to convince me to choose another weapon which was actually adorable, since he was actually concerned that I would hurt myself.

-

Chandler and I sat on his bed, or sleeping bag rather, reading some books I brought from the Superstore; well I read a book while Chandler just stared off into space, lost in thought. Chandler sat with his back against the wall while I laid on my stomach. It was a typical scene for us, together but not really interacting. 

Because he was sitting cross legged, his knee was right next to my head; a sudden thought popped into my head, what if I placed my head on his knee? I needed _some_ way to figure out if the feelings I had were mutual or if Chandler only saw me as a friend; pretending to roll onto my side I placed my head on his knee and waited for a reaction, but nothing happened. Chandler only glanced down at me before going back to...whatever he was thinking about.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, turning on my back to look at him but keeping my head on his knee. "Nothing" he said, looking down on me "Is that a good book?" I sighed "It was the first three times I read it". Chandler placed a casual hand on my chest and my heart stopped "I'll keep my eyes out for a bookstore next time I go out" he said with one of his crooked almost-smiles.

I placed my hand on my chest next to his, not touching but close; seeing how he would react, when he didn't do anything I asked "Where do you go when you disappear?" "Just...around" he said, looking away; I inched my hand forward so it finally touched and I sighed quietly to myself as he pulled his hand away. 

"Cole! Your dogs are chewing on the desks again!" I heard Liam call from upstairs. I looked around the room, I didn't even notice the girls left "Be right back" I said to Chandler, getting up from the sleeping bag.

Going back downstairs with the girls, the office was empty; Chandler must have slipped out again, was it really so bad here that he needed to get out? I turned to go back upstairs before looking at the little window, where did he always go? Grabbing my new found sword from behind the filing cabinet in the office I strapped it to my back and climbed on the chair to follow him out.


	12. Chapter 12

The girls had a little more trouble getting out than I did but they were happy to get outside; they seemed to have finally forgotten about the vests and little "shoes" they now wore, which Dad and Liam were a total fans of. I looked around and saw Chandler quickly walking away from us, ignoring the lone walkers in the street; he walked with purpose, as if he knew exactly where he was going.

The girls started following him without me even telling them too, but we never caught up with him. The girls wanted to investigate and sniff everything and I didn't try to hurry them along; I was really curious what Chandler did on these little trips, and I didn't want to make him feel awkward by tagging along.

Chandler lead us to a small corner store, around the back where a walker seemed to be in a hole or something. I watched him as the girls sniffed at a dead bush; he sat in the dirt for a while staring at the walker until he got up again and tried to load his crossbow one handed. He angrily tore off the sling his arm was in when he failed and tried to load it again; when he finally did he just stood there, pointing his crossbow at the walker in the hole but not firing it.

He just stood there as we finally caught up to him, not reacting to us at all. I looked at the walker in the hole; from this angle it actually looked like a grave or something; Chandler was holding his crossbow so tight that his knuckles were white. "Chandler...?" I asked softly as he started shaking; because he was staring down his crossbow his hat hid his eyes from me but I saw a single tear roll down his cheek. I looked at the walker, after studying it for a bit I realize it was his sister.

"I'm sorry" I said softly as I slowly outstretched my hand; I wrapped my hand around his that was on the trigger and gently applied pressure. The bolt flew and the walker, his sister, stopped moving as it landed between her eyes. Chandler took a ragged breath and softly said "I've been trying to put her down" Chandler dropped his crossbow into the dirt before embracing me in a tight hug "Thank you, for being stronger than me...and doing what I couldn't" he said as his shoulders gently shook with his silent sobs.

-

Chandler and I buried his sister, after he calmed down; the entire time he gushed about her: the memories they shared, how his entire life changed when his mom brought home a bundle of pink blankets, how his father was slightly abusive and how he became his sister's protector. I didn't interrupt him at all, I felt like he needed this, like this was his way of mourning.

He put together a crude cross made from the handle of a mop and carefully carved "Candice Jennifer Riggs" into the wood with his knife and tied the two pieces of wood together with some string that was in the corner store. Chandler took Candy's backpack and placed it on her grave before taking out the small family photo from his backpack; he stared at for a long moment before putting it inside her backpack.

He sighed and turned to me "My sister can finally rest in peace, thank you Cole" he said "I feel...I feel the best I have since she died" he said with a genuine smile; his smile was breathtaking.

I blushed under his gaze and he gave a small, short chuckle but didn't comment, picking up his crossbow and shouldering his own backpack we started walking back to the police station; before we turned the corner however Chandler turned back to the grave and said softly "I love you, little sister, rest easy. I'll see you again one day".

As we were walking back Chandler spoke up "I...I want to apologize for my behavior...I know I've been cold and standoffish and I thank you for being so patient with me; I promise you Cole, I'll try to be a better boyfriend". I was so shocked and surprised that I tripped over air, nearly falling on Shylo since she was walking right in front of me.

"Cole are you alright?" Chandler said, immediately falling to his knees beside me. "Boyfriend?!" I sputtered out, still on the floor; Chandler looked at me, confused"Yeah? I mean that whole thing with my knee this morning...I thought we had an understanding? I mean you were like inches away from...my...well you know"

Chandler helped me to my feet before I said "You could have at least told me!" Chandler looked at me for a long moment before saying "Sorry...?" Chandler took a step forward as if to kiss me but changed his mind and only offered his hand instead.

I placed my hand in his and we intertwined our fingers together; after we started walking again before he said "You know that ever since I found you, I've had dreams about my sister? As weird as it sounds...she helped me move past her death; but I still felt guilty that her body was still moving, I was so mad at myself that I couldn't put her body down...thanks Cole". I smiled, not really caring that he was rambling, just happy that he was talking.

He looked over my shoulder "There is a gas station over there, we should check it out, there might be some food or water inside" I followed his eyes and saw a lone walker standing in front of the gas station like it was guarding it. "You should take it out" Chandler said as we approached it, looking at my sword "You need practice if you really are going to use that; I wish that you wouldn't though, it's insanely dangerous".

Chandler loaded his crossbow, he was plan B if things went badly; approaching the walker I drew my sword that was strapped on my back. The girls, this close to a walker, starting snarling and baring teeth; I took a deep breath and swung my sword, closing my eyes as the steel whizzed through the air...and hit nothing.

"Don't be afraid, Cole; that sword is long enough to keep you out of harm's way" Chandler said as I went several steps back out of reach of the walker's out stretched arms. The girls also stepped away, obviously not wanting to be too close to the walker either. I adjusted my hands on the hilt of my sword; it was terrifying being this close to a walker, to see all the rotting details this close to my face. I considered taking off my glasses, just so I wouldn't be able to look at it clearly.

I swung again with my sword, despite my best efforts my eyes closed by themselves again. I swung harder than I meant too and completely unbent my elbows, the unfamiliar weight of the steel that far away from my body caused me to stumble as I lost my balance. I heard the soft twang and a heavyweight hit the floor as Chandler shot the walker with his crossbow.

I felt so embarrassed as I opened my eyes and Chandler went to pick up his bolt; Chandler could kill walkers like they were bugs inside his house and I couldn't even keep my eyes open this close to one. "Sorry" I mumbled, Chandler looked at me "Don't apologize, if this was easy for you I'd actually be concerned; anyway, let's go babe, and check out this gas station".

"Did you just...call me babe?" I asked, as soon as I thought Chandler had no more surprises he seemed to hit me with another; Chandler immediately turned red however and said "Sorry...it just slipped out..." before I could say anything he quickly went inside the gas station.

 


	13. Chapter 13

Chandler's POV

"Chandler I was just caught off guard-" Cole started to say as he followed me inside but I raised my hand and brought my finger to my lips; quietly I loaded up my crossbow and made my way toward the staff door deeper inside the gas station, silently. I heard a sound from the staff room before Cole  walked in, but it sounded like a person not a walker.

"Get ready to run" I mouthed at Cole who nodded, holding on to his dogs by their vests. I took a deep breath as I grabbed the doorknob and I yanked it open before ducking under whatever was being swung at me, thank God for reflexes. I scrambled away from the door, trying to put distance from myself and the other person since that person was using a melee weapon.

As I got to my feet again and pointed my crossbow back at the door, I was stunned by what I saw. Inside the room stood a boy, Candy's age, around fourteen or fifteen; and he was blind. His eyes instead of being brown or blue or green or any other "normal" eye color were a cloudy white instead. He object he swung at me was actually his cane, which he held in front of him as if it was Cole's sword.

I was so stunned that I stood there, still pointing my crossbow at him as two more people came in; I didn't even notice them until they were almost on top of me. The people were a guy and girl, early to mid twenties; I just looked at them since I was still caught off guard by the blind kid.

"What do you want? What are you doing here?" the guy asked, holding what looked to be a spear in one hand. When he saw that I was still pointing my crossbow at the boy he immediately dropped his spear and held up his hands "Ok, let's just remain calm, I'm sure we can work something out" he said as I swung my crossbow around and pointed it at them.

The guy had long brown hair, but it was shorter than mine; his grey eyes were pleading with me. The girl he was with had short, bobbed black hair that had blonde streaks in it; she was curvy, or as some people would say, heavy. Her brown eyes flitted back and forth from me to the guy.

The girl followed the example of the guy and held up her hands also as the guy said "Take whatever you want; just don't hurt him, please". Cole finally lost his grip on his dogs; they were hidden from the other people by the shelves and the two people jumped as Cole's dogs turned the corner and looked at them, giving them low warning growls.

Cole joined me, holding the hilt of his sword as if he knew how to use it; he actually looked threatening, hiding the fact that he was actually just a cinnamon roll. Huh, cinnamon roll; I think I'll call him that from now on.

I snapped back to reality as the guy said "Please, everything we have is inside there; take it all, just don't hurt him" he pleaded again. "We didn't come to rob you" I said "But if you try anything it'll be the last thing you ever do" as I spoke, Cole's dogs went over to the blind kid who was still in a combat stance; one of Cole's dogs nosed the boy on the hand and the boy jerked away, before slowly reaching out his hand and placing it on the dog's face.

"If you're not here to hurt us, why are you here?" the girl asked. "We just came to check it out, we'll be leaving" I said as I elbowed Cole, still pointing my crossbow at them. "Take us with you" the guy blurted out; the girl he was with looked at him in shock as I gave him a flat "No".

"Jordan have you lost your mind? Why would you ask if we could go with them?" the girl asked. "Katelyn look at them, they have enough food and water to keep dogs alive! We're at the end of our rope, you know that" the guy, Jordan, said looking at her "Plus, if they were bad people, we would have been dead a long time ago".

"No, you can't come" I repeated "But Chandler, they have a blind kid, we can help them" Cole whispered in my ear. "Cole we don't know them, you can't trust strangers these days" I whispered back. "Chandler, what harm could they do? One of them is blind" Cole insisted. "Just because someone has a handicap doesn't mean you should count them out" I said. Cole furrowed his eyebrows "Chandler you're being ridiculous right now". "Why? Because I'm trying to keep you safe?" I scoffed.

Cole opened his mouth to say something but closed it, instead he said "What if we let my parents decide?" I thought about it, obviously his parents wouldn't let bad people stay with us. "Fine" I turned to the guy "Come with us, unarmed, there are some people we want you to talk too". The guy nodded and the girl stared at him "Jordan are you completely insane?" "Katelyn, if they wanted to kill us they would have done it already, remember? And I have to look out for Eric" he said, looking at the blind boy who was slowly petting Cole's dogs.

-

We made our way to the police station, I kept a careful, wary eye on the new guy, Jordan. Jordan tried to start conversations with us but I only gave one word answers, cutting off Cole's responses. I didn't care if he thought I was being unreasonable, I'd rather him be mad at me than be hurt, or worse; I knew what people were capable of because of my experiences with my sister, and I wasn't going to make that same mistake.

Cole's parents, Zayn and Liam all looked over as Cole cleared his throat "Hey, umm...we found someone". "You went outside?" Harry asked with a frown. "Who is this?" Louis asked. The guy stepped forward "I'm Jordan, my fiancee, her sister and my little brother and I need help. We're not asking to you to allow us to join you for free through, we're no strangers to hard work; we'll pull our own weight. Please don't turn us away though, my little brother is blind". 

-

Jordan waited in one of the office rooms with the door closed while the adults discussed this new issue; for once Zayn and Louis seemed able to agree on something. Zayn and Louis both opposed Jordan and his family joining us but for different reasons; Zayn agreed with me and said we shouldn't trust strangers, while Louis argued that we only had a limited supply of food and water and nearly doubling our numbers will make our supplies be used that much faster. Harry and Liam said we should take them in, but for different reasons as well. Harry simply wanted to help them, like Cole did; while Liam pointed out that there was safety in numbers.

I didn't really listen to what they were saying, content with the knowledge that the other three usually did what Louis wanted in the end and he was on my side; I tuned in though as I heard Liam say my name. "Louis, our biggest weakness is we have no idea how to survive anymore; people like Jordan's family and Chandler do, we need people like that. Chandler often times comes back from his little trips with food and water, Jordan and his family might do the same" Louis looked at Liam, unsure.

Harry leaned in "Louis we need to give them a chance; Jordan came here by himself" he lowered his voice "You know how imitating Chandler can be, I don't think Jordan would come to us unless he was desperate". Louis looked between those two, clearly on the fence now, but Zayn jumped in "Louis we don't know these people, you saw what happened back at the warehouse; humanity and compassion are the first to die when things we hard, we don't know what these people are capable of".

Harry shot back however "Weren't you the one that argued, back at the warehouse, that Chandler should stick around because he was useful? Now we have four "Chandlers" offering their help and you want to turn them away?" Louis slowly said "Let's give them a trail run, we'll take away their weapons and allow them to join. If they ever try to harm us or anything then we'll...deal with that".

Zayn frowned but after thinking it over said "Fine, but I'll keep careful tabs on all of our supplies". I sighed to myself, even I had to accept that it was a good compromise but I wouldn't let Jordan or his family out of my sight until I was sure they wouldn't hurt us.


	14. Chapter 14

We helped Jordan and his family settle in, well Dad, Uncle Liam and I did; Chandler was going through all of their stuff and taking any weapons he found. Uncle Zayn was with the baby, changing her diaper or so he said, but everyone knew knew he was still upset about Pop's decision.

"So this is Katelyn, my fiancee, her sister Aurora and this is my brother Enrique, Eric for short" Jordan introduced them. Aurora was curvy like her sister but lacked the blonde streaks her sister had as well as her hair was longer, other than that they looked nearly identical. Aurora, Katelyn and Jordan were roughly the same age, early to mid twenties. Eric, Enrique had darker skin than any of them, or us for that matter "He's adopted, he's my cousin technically" Jordan explained, probably seeing my confused face.

"His father was Mexican and his mother was my mom's cousin, when he was born blind his parents couldn't care for him so my mom adopted him" Jordan said as he ruffled Eric's hair. "He was born blind?" Dad asked and Jordan nodded "Every single person in my family has eye problems, genetics I guess; Eric was the first that was totally blind though. I'm actually completely colorblind" he explained.

Dad nodded "I'm Harry that's my husband Louis, our son Cole, that's Liam and his husband Zayn is with their baby daughter Faith". I looked at Dad, surprised that he called Faith Uncle Liam and Uncle Zayn's daughter. Uncle Zayn and Uncle Liam did take care of the baby more than either of my parents did but I don't remember anyone deciding that Faith would be "theirs"; Uncle Liam didn't seem to complain though, his friendly smile was still on his face. "And that's Chandler Cole's....uhh, friend" Dad finished awkwardly, not knowing what to call him; I shared a look with Chandler and a small smile appeared on his lips.

"That's cool, family is super important these days" Jordan said as Uncle Zayn finally came out with Faith who was chewing on her fist. "Aww" I heard Katelyn softly exclaim. Uncle Zayn tried his best to avoid these people for as long as possible, he even did Faith's hair and put it into pigtails to buy extra time.

"How old is she?" Katelyn asked and she wiggled her finger to Faith who only placed her head on Uncle Zayn's chest and sucked on her thumb in response. "Six months" Uncle Liam answered "She was born the day this all happened" he said as he motioned to the door and the world outside. Katelyn and Jordan only nodded and I was thankful they didn't ask where the mother was.

We looked over as Katelyn's sister yelped, clutching her hand as Fenris glared at her, "Oh yeah" I said "My dogs don't like people, sorry I should I have said something sooner, did she bite you?" Aurora shook her head " No, she just surprised me is all; they're beautiful dogs" I smiled "Thanks, I really like them too; that's Fenris and she's Shylo. They're sisters as well". Eric finally spoke up "Fenris, that's an interesting name, did you name her that?" He asked as he turned to my direction.

"No, they were already named when I got them" I answered. "The ancient Norse had a divine wolf-beast named Fenrir who was a harbinger/messenger/bringer of Ragnarok, the end times for the Norse. Fenris merely means little Fenrir or Fenrir's child" Eric said. "I didn't know that, that's cool" I said slightly tilting my head, this kid was smart.

I looked back to Katelyn who was still trying to get Faith to smile, but Faith just stared at her like she was completely bananas; "Can I hold her?" Katelyn asked. "Uhh, yeah" Uncle Zayn said as he started to offer Faith to her but the baby grabbed Uncle Zayn's shirt tightly with both tiny fists and wouldn't let go. Katelyn just chuckled and let her hands fall to her sides again when Faith refused to go with her.

"So shall we eat?" Dad said since he was cooking the entire time on the small gas stove we had; he heated up some ravioli from some cans and tried to make it more edible by adding some spices. Dad spooned some of the pasta into a bowl before offering to Eric, well he tried to until he remembered Eric was blind. Jordan took the bowl with an understanding smile before he grabbed the spoon Dad also offered and put in Eric's hand, before setting the bowl on the table and guiding the spoon into the pasta.

"Thank you, it smells great" Eric said before eating a spoonful "You're welcome" Dad said as he started serving the rest of us. We all grabbed food before sitting around the table, Chandler sat in the chair between Jordan and I; Jordan smiled as Chandler sat down, thinking Chandler was trying to be friendly, but Jordan's smile faded and he looked down to his bowl again as Chandler didn't return the smile and was actually, very slightly, hostile towards him. Chandler didn't scowl or show any outward hostility but his vibes aren't friendly at all.

It was like we were having an stereotypical Thanksgiving dinner, like in the movies and tv where you were forced together with family you didn't know all that well or even liked. Chandler and Uncle Zayn's vibes completely suppressed all attempts at conversation, and it didn't help that Pops didn't seem to care one way or the other. Dad and Uncle Liam tried to be friendly but it was difficult to say the least.

"I like your wedding rings" Katelyn said to Dad, looking at his gold wedding band. Dad wiggled it off his finger and show it to her "Oh, there's a sapphire inside" she said as she showed Jordan the ring also before asking "Why is the stone inside the ring and not on the outside?" Dad held out his hand to Pops who placed his wedding ring in Dad's palm before Dad offered it to Katelyn who nodded when she saw the emerald.

"Harry wrote and sang a song at our wedding" Pops explained "Harry bought both wedding rings to match his song, the chorus went "For your eyes only, I show you my heart; for when you're lonely and forget who you are. I'm missing half of me when we're apart; now you know me, for your eyes only" so Harry got us stones, for our eyes only. Harry's ring has sapphire because of my blue eyes and Harry has green eyes so my ring as the emerald".

-

Jordan's POV

"I like these people" I said as I took off my shirt to get ready to sleep "I think we finally found a group that'll stick together, considering they're a giant family". "That kid though, the one with the long hair, I don't like how he looks at us" Aurora said as she put on fresh socks to sleep "like he's just waiting for one of us to pull a gun on them or something". "If you ask me that's a good thing, he's careful of new people" I countered "I would be worried if these people just accepted everyone with flowers and smiles".

"I think we should stay here for a couple of days, make a plan and then be on our way" Aurora pressed, "I'm tired of walking" Eric said softly "Sis, just because someone is looking at you sideways you want to walk away from probably the biggest break we've had in _months_?" Katelyn asked "I think we should at least try with these people, they seem friendly enough...or at the very least won't hurt us".

"Tomorrow we should try our best to make friends here, cause Katelyn is right; stumbling across these people might be the best luck we had in a long time" I said "And even if you and Chandler don't get along please just try Aurora; look around you, tonight is the first night none of us have to taken turns sleeping to make sure the freaks won't eat us". "We should also try to be helpful in anyway we can" Katelyn nodded. Aurora scoffed but didn't say anything.


	15. Chapter 15

Chandler's POV

I shivered slightly to myself in the early morning light; this was the best time to go anywhere since the cold make the walkers slightly sluggish.

Ever since I arrived at the police station I've been making slow spirals outward and scavenging in any buildings I came across; I haven't found anything worth bringing back since we seemed to be in the middle of a shopping district but looking at the apartment building in front of me, I was hopeful.

Going inside the building I climbed up the stairs to the first floor, attaching the small flashlight I had to the end of my crossbow. The hallway was dark, without electricity the only source of light was a window at the far end of the hall, I listened for a second before letting the door to the stairs close and trying the doorknob of the first apartment.

I kneeled down when the door wouldn't opened because it was locked; using a small flat-head screwdriver, a bobbi pin, and a nail file I picked the lock and opened the door. It was a trick I learned from a person in the first group Candy and I joined, and has saved my skin more than once; I threw the screwdriver into the apartment, at an angle so it would bounce around and waited. I turned my head as I heard a sound come from another apartment but nothing moved in the one I was in now.

I went inside and cleared the rooms one by one, even the closets; taking no chances. After clearing the apartment I set up a can-trap, placing three empty cans in front of the door so if the door opened they would fall over and I would at least have some warning.

I sighed and finally took off my backpack, the real work was just starting. Opening the drawers and cabinets one by one I started checking the entire house; the people that lived here seemed to have evacuated since the only edible items left where mainly spices. I found two bottles of alcohol in one of the cabinets, tequila to be exact, and placed the bottles carefully in my bag; I didn't drink but they could be used to make molotov cocktails and walkers were attracted to light as much as noise.

I sighed as I went into the bedrooms; I wasn't just out here to find some supplies, I came to find some for Cole also. Yesterday after dinner I actually realized something about myself; I actually had no idea how to be a boyfriend, for God's sake I haven't even had my first kiss yet.

I've never had a real relationship since I was always so standoffish, even before Candy died, and both relationships I did have only lasted a few weeks. My biggest issue, and I knew it, was that I didn't let anyone close because I didn't want to get hurt. I wouldn't communicate, wouldn't open up.

For the longest time I thought love was a lie, something that existed only in movies and stories; most of the people in my family were divorced and those still in marriages had issues, like my own parents...although theirs were a little more extreme.

However being with Cole's family and seeing the way Harry and Louis, Zayn and Liam would look at each other gave me hope. I really wanted things to work out with Cole, I was tired of being alone and...I really liked him.

I terrified me, it scared me that I liked someone because my psyche wouldn't be able to handle it. Ever since Candy died my life has sat on the edge of cliff and only how was I starting to walk away from it.

Yesterday I managed to get Liam alone and I asked him, directly, for advice. Liam chuckled, even though I didn't say Cole's name it was obvious who I was talking about. The only thing he said though were that actions speak louder than words; I picked up a butterfly bracelet that used to belong to the people that lived here before tossing it aside, I was looking for something to give to Cole, something that could say what I couldn't.

I left the apartment with only with the bottles of tequila and a candy bar I found; I was so wrapped up in my head that when I picked the lock and went inside I didn't check if anything was inside before going in and placing my backpack on the counter. As I walked into the bedroom a walker fell on me.

As we fell, my crossbow fell and fired the bolt that was loaded in it, embedding the bolt into the wall; I scrambled to my feet and looked around for anything that can be used a weapon. I kicked the walker under the chin as I could, causing it to fall backwards again and buy me extra time.

I reached for the my knife from my back pocket and swore loudly as it wasn't there; I ran to the kitchen and grabbed the pan full of some long rotten food and swung it as hard as I could to the walker, splattering the contents all over myself, the wall and hitting the walker with a satisfying clunk. I bludgeoned the walker repeatedly with the pan until it stopped moving and pan was dented so badly it wasn't even recognizable. "You stupid idiot" I said to myself out-loud, "Never let down your guard!"

I kicked the walker in the stomach for good measure before going to the bathroom and grabbing one of the towels and wiping my face; thankfully my long sleeve shirt and pants kept me from getting anymore dirty.

The food or whatever it was was apparently red and make me looked like I just splattered walker blood as all over myself "I just found my new Halloween costume" I chuckled to myself to myself as I dropped the towel on the bathroom floor and continue checking the rest of the apartment.

This place a gold mine, the person that turned into a walker stayed here until the bitter end; the place was full of food and water, but the empty ointment, painkillers and antiseptic told the story that this person was infected and turned via some kind of wound.

I filled up my backpack with supplies and used some plastic bags I found inside to carry the rest of the stuff; grabbing my crossbow and finding my knife again to I make my way back to the police station

Before I left however I combed the apartment again, beside the bed I found a necklace that had an circular silver pendant on the front. A shield was engraved on the front and on the back it had "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me". Perfect, I thought to myself as I placed the necklace in my pocket and started to walk back to the station.

"I know kids these days have crazy fashion sense, is warpaint making a comeback?" Liam joked as I walked into the station with my stained clothes "But in all seriousness, are you alright? Are you injured?" I shook my head and placed the bags in front of Liam, not even to bothering to look at Jordan and Eric who were with him.

"Wow you found all this? This is great Chandler! Well done" Liam said, opening one of the plastic bags, I nodded and Liam went on "You should get cleaned up son; Jordan and I will sort through these". I nodded again and left the bags with them before walking down the hall. Zayn sat in one of the offices with Katelyn; Faith sat in Zayn's lap while Katelyn played peekaboo, causing the baby to giggle. Zayn glanced at me, gave me a small smile and turned back to the baby and Katelyn as I walked passed.

I went down to my room before taking off my shirt and pants; debating whether to just throw away my stained clothes or keep them. The old food on my clothes didn't smell but there really wasn't anyway to get the stains out now, since washing machines didn't work anymore.

"Hey Chandler I heard your back I-" Cole said as he walked into my room and instantly turn red as he saw me standing in my underwear "I...sorry...I should have knocked...sorry...glad you're back" he stuttered as he closed the door again. I smiled, he was so awkward it was endearing.

After changing into another pair of black jeans, a green long sleeve shirt and a blue undershirt I found Cole again, throwing tennis balls for his dogs. He gave me an unsure smile, as if he was scared I would yell at him or something. "I got you something" I said, awkwardly, not knowing how to actually give a gift; wow I'm pathetic.

"Cl...close your eyes" I mumbled, Cole gave a questioning look before he did as told. Walking behind him I pulled the necklace from my pocket; Cole shivered slightly as my fingers brushed against his neck while I fastened the clasp on the necklace "Ok...you can open your eyes now".

Cole opened his eyes and looked down at the necklace "Thank you Chandler, I love it" he said as he read the inscription on the back. "Yeah, no problem" I said as he looked at me; he glanced at my lips and slowly started leaning forward. I panicked.

"Yeah...umm...I'm kinda tired, I had a run-in with a walker today so I'm going to go lay down for a bit" I quickly said. "Oh, sure; well ok, I'll be around" Cole said, trying to keep the disappointed from his voice. After I went back into my room I softly banged my head against the wall in self-frustration.


	16. Chapter 16

Harry's POV

"Dr. Tomlinson?" I heard a soft voice call as I sorted through all the stuff Chandler found that morning; I looked to the door as I saw him standing there. "Everything ok?" I asked, surprised that Chandler was speaking to me; I knew that Chandler didn't have anything against us, he was just a kid of few words; the strong silent type as the Americans call them.

"I cut my leg, I fell on the stairs" he said. I pushed the cans to one side of the table and motioned for him to sit, he exaggerated a limp that didn't exist and I knew immediately he was lying; some of Cole's and Ana's friends would come to my clinic and fake injuries exactly the same way to get out of school or events they didn't want to go too. "May I?" I asked as I grabbed the bottom of his pants and rolled the leg up.

After I rolled up his pants leg I was surprised; below his knee there was a long cut, but it was self-inflicted. It wasn't deep, in fact it just barely broke skin; there were some drops of blood but it wasn't exactly bleeding. The cut itself had a curve to it caused by Chandler's perspective as he dragged the blade across his skin. Why was he doing this?

"Well it doesn't seem too bad, when you said you fell down the stairs I was worried" I said, playing along. "I have a confession Dr. Tomlinson, I didn't fall down the stairs" he said as I cleaned the cut "I just...I wanted to talk to you" he finished. "What about? Everything ok?" I asked as I got up to close the door, feeling Chandler needed some privacy.

"I...I've developed feelings for Cole and I felt like I needed to tell you since we...live together and...he said that Louis doesn't want us...to...yeah..." he said softly staring at the floor. I was taken aback; was he seriously asking my permission to date my son? This was a first.

"Well, thanks for telling me" I said as I rolled down his pant's leg after cleaning it and standing up. Chandler took a step toward me before taking half a step back and offering his hand to shake; I smiled, stepped forward and hugged him. Chandler tensed up but didn't try to pull away and after a moment returned the hug, weakly though as if he was forcing himself.

The moment was interrupted as Louis walked "Harry I found some handcuffs" he said before he quickly hid the cuffs behind his back from Chandler. Chandler pulled away and quickly left the room as if embarrassed; whether from the hug or what Louis said I had no idea.

"What was that all about?" Louis asked, watching him go downstairs. "I have no idea" I said truthfully, Louis stepped closer and lowered his voice "So we found a uniform and finally some handcuffs...you want to go to bed early?"

Cole's POV

I sat with Enrique as we played with his fun-clay/playdoh "To be honest" he continued "I don't really like Aurora but she's saved us a couple of times so I can't really complain; she's the one that found the spear".

"Where did she find it?" I asked but he shrugged "She's kind of like your friend Chandler, she goes out to find stuff for us but she never told us where she found it" he leaned in closer "personally I think she killed someone for it since when anyone asks she loses her mind and gets really angry".

Enrique opened to his mouth to say something but closed it instead and said "So yeah that's the story of the time Jordan and I destroyed our mom's kitchen". I looked at him "Eric what are you-" I started saying a split second before the door opened and Aurora popped in her head and said "Eric it's time for bed".

Enrique nodded "Ok" he said before Aurora left; he started putting the fun-clay back into the containers "How did you know she was coming?" I asked, Eric smiled "Perks of being blind, super hearing" he chuckled "Also remind to actually tell you the story about the time Jordan and I destroyed the kitchen, it's really funny". Eric's face slightly fell "And thanks for hanging out with me all day, I know you probably didn't want too". I gently shook his shoulder "Nah don't mention it, it was fun" Enric reached down and pet Shylo as she pawed his leg "The girls seem to like you too".

Eric smiled and stood up before walking out of the room; he didn't walk with his cane since he actually memorized the entire layout of the police station, or at least the first floor. I watched him do it this morning, he counted steps and drew a map in his mind; it was really interesting.

I made my way downstairs and knocked on the door to the chief's office "Come in" Chandler said. My face instantly became red as he was sitting on his sleeping bag without a shirt on. "You're still wearing your necklace" he said with a small smile. "Yeah...of course...why wouldn't I?" I asked as my hand went up to touch it. Chandler shrugged and looked away "I don't know, cause you think it was stupid or something?"

After a moment Chandler turned back to me and asked "Are you uncomfortable? Should I put a shirt on?" "Yes...no...well I mean...If you want too...I don't mind..." I stuttered. Chandler smirked at me before he scrunched up his face as Fenris gave him a small lick on the tip of his nose.

I chuckled and went to sit next to him "Do you remember that night back at the warehouse? It was the best night sleep I've had in a long time" he said quietly. I looked at him "Are you asking me...to stay?" It was his turn to stutter "Not like sex just...well...like...last time" he said in a soft voice .

"Sure, I'll stay until my parents come down" I nodded Chandler chuckled "I don't think they'll be down anytime soon". I looked at him "Why do you say that?" But he chuckled again and only said "So we should get some sleep".

I slid under the sleeping and I quickly took off my shirt; I usually slept in a shirt but if I was being completely honest I wanted to feel his skin on mine. I got into the sleeping back and laid with my back to Chandler who immediately wrapped an arm around my torso; his skin was so warm and soft, feeling his breath on the back of my neck was electric.  
  


After a few moments, Chandler shifted and laid awkwardly at an angle so his lower half was against the wall, away from me, however his chest and upper body were pressed against mine. After a moment Chandler gave a small, hesitant kiss on the top of my shoulder; his lips only rested there for a fraction of a second before pulling away.

I let out a breath as I tried not to giggle like a little girl as I pressed backwards, closer into him; I heard him chuckled softly and kiss my shoulder again, slightly closer to my neck though. Everything Chandler did was cautious, hesitant, unsure, it was a massive contradiction; confident Chandler would could, and probably has, killed a walker with his bare hands but was completely awkward when it came to stuff like this.

I arched my neck slightly, to give Chandler access; a hint that he either didn't realize or didn't take since he kissed my shoulder again in the same spot and then just rested his head on my shoulder. Chandler kept shifting slightly, especially his legs, obviously uncomfortable with the weird angle he was laying in; I didn't say anything though, I didn't want to make anything awkward.

Chandler shifted again and I knew what he was hiding, he was _very_ erect; it brushed against my butt as he shifted and for a second i thought it was his knee from how hard it was. After brushing against me, Chandler completely turned over and faced the wall; embarrassed most likely, knowing him.

"Chandler it's ok, I'm actually flattered that you find me attractive" I said gently, truthfully. "I don't want to talk about it" he nearly snapped. "Ok, well...if you change your mind I'm not going anywhere" I said softly sighing to myself. I didn't press the issue, I didn't try to become the big spoon or anything and we fell asleep with Chandler facing the wall.

-

The next morning I was woken up by a quiet squeaking noise as Chandler opened the window in the office to slip outside with his backpack and crossbow; it was just barely sunrise. "You know, usually sex is a prerequisite for a guy escaping through a window" I said, sitting up. "Go back to sleep Cinnamon Roll, I'll be back later" Chandler said, ignoring my joke.

I sat there for a second "Cinnamon Roll?" I asked before putting on my shirt and shoes; Chandler didn't answer me and was halfway out the window as I said "Let me go with you". "It's dangerous" he said, looking over his shoulder at me. "Then teach me how to be safe" I countered.

Chandler looked at for a long moment "Fine" he said before he closed the window and walked to the door instead. I stood up, grabbed my sword that was leaning against a filing cabinet and followed him upstairs, since the girls couldn't go through the window. We passed the various offices where snores could be heard and unlocked the front doors before walking outside.

Jordan was outside the police station peeing into some dead bushes "You realize we have restrooms inside right? And we use old, dirty water to flush the toilets" I said as Jordan finished his business and zipped his pants back up. Jordan took out a small bottle of hand sanitizer and rubbed his hands with it "Yeah but I wanted to see the sunrise, where are you guys going?" he asked looking at my sword and Chandler's crossbow.

Chandler just shrugged and Jordan said "You guys shouldn't go out, not alone; do you want me to go with you?" Chandler shook his head and started walking passed Jordan; Jordan reached out and placed a hand on Chandler's shoulder who stared at Jordan, I was surprised Jordan didn't burst into flames from the intensity of Chandler's glare. It was actually Jordan who broke eye contact first even though he was sevenish years older than us.

"Don't ever touch me again" Chandler snarled as Jordan let his hand fall; he didn't say anything as Chandler started walking away. "Just be careful" Jordan said to me before I jogged to catch up to Chandler. When I caught up to Chandler I kept my distance to allow him to cool off but I was surprised when he reached for my hand and intertwined our fingers together.


	17. Chapter 17

Chandler's POV

We made our way back to the apartment building I found yesterday, skipping over to the ones I combed over yesterday, I picked the lock of one of the doors.  "I didn't realize you can actually do that" Cole said as the door clicked open and his dogs went inside to investigate.  "It's definitely not as easy as the movies make it appear" I said as I stood up and placed the tools in my pocket. 

We searched the apartment, I chuckled as I found Cole flipping through the books the people that lived here had instead of actually looking for supplies; if it was anyone else I would have been absolutely furious.    "Find anything good?" I asked as I went into the bedrooms and starting going through the drawers.  "Not really, Liam might like these though he loves murder mystery books" Cole answered putting the book in a grocery bag he carried. 

We moved on to the next apartment after not really finding anything; from Cole's dog's nervous reactions at the door there was probably a walker inside.  "Let me get it" Cole said as I move away from the door to the next apartment  "let me try again since last time it went so badly; I need practice".  I sighed, not liking the idea of seeking out trouble "Just be careful and realize that you're in a small space so you'll probably need to stab rather than slice with your sword" I said as I picked the lock to the door.

A walker stood in the living room, seeming to admire the view from the windows. As Cole's dogs started growling, it turned to face us and Cole drew his sword; I loaded my crossbow as Cole stepped toward the walker.  He adjusted his grip on the sword several times before he finally took a deep breath and swung his blade; he closed his right eye as he swung and decapitated the walker. 

As it's head fell off and landed on the floor with a thud, along with the body, he turned to me and gave me a large, radiant smile that took my breath away; he was so proud of himself and I couldn't help but smile back.  Eventually though I cleared my throat and said "You have to destroy the brain" I said motioning to the head that was still snapping it's jaws. 

Cole, showing off, twirled the sword in his hand so the blade was pointing downward before stabbing the walker in the head; I chuckled and shook my head as I stepped over the body and started looking through the cabinets.  "What, no celebration for my first walker kill?" Cole asked, actually sounding slightly disappointed. 

I looked at him from the can of sardines in my hands "Well...what do you want?" I asked.  Cole looked down at the floor and a small smile appeared on his lips "What about a kiss?" he asked, an adorable mix of awkwardness, excitement and shyness.  "Uhh...yeah, sure" I said as I put down the fish and walked over to him, he closed his eyes and leaned slightly forward.

I hesitated, it's not that I didn't want to kiss him, trust me I did; but I was so worried about doing it badly and Cole laughing at me or something.  This would be my first kiss, ever.  I leaned forward after taking off my hat and our lips finally touched, it only lasted for a second though before I pulled away; I quickly walked back to the kitchen so I wouldn't have to see his face.  I was so worried about messing up that I didn't even enjoy it. 

Thankfully Cole didn't comment on my behavior nor the kiss he merely said "We should do that more often" he said as he placed my hat on his head, I only responded with a nod.   After the kiss we searched the apartment in a heavysilence; each second of the silence killed me, I must have been the worst boyfriend in the world.  

I found a small can of sweetened, condensed milk and some stale graham crackers in the pantry "You want to take a little break?" I asked to break the silence.  Cole nodded and smiled at me; I opened the can with the pull ring on the lid and dipped in a cracker before eating it.  I wasn't being greedy I just wanted to make sure it wasn't spoiled.  

We sat the the table and enjoyed the snack; it's been forever and and a day since I've had anything sweet that wasn't overly sweet canned fruit.  "Chandler" Cole said "I know you don't want to, too but I feel like we need to talk about last night".  It took all of my willpower not to face palm or look away, I was so embarrassed about last night; Cole probably thought I was a pervert that just saw him as a sex object or something now.

"Listen Cole, I realize what happened wasn't cool...I mean we were just cuddling and then you feel...that. I'm sorry, really I am; I wasn't trying to pressure you. I wasn't even thinking dirty thoughts, it just sort of happened" I rambled, I could literally just feel the words spill from my mouth, I had no way to stop them "Trust me there is a lot I want other than sex, not that I don't want sex because I do...I mean it's not all I think about...don't get me wrong Cole, you're freaking sexy but I'm not a sexual deviant or anything" at this point Cole placed his elbows on the table and folded his hands together over his mouth like some people do when they're thinking, which only made me panic more; what was he thinking about?   Probably how to break up with me, Jesus Christ, please someone save me from myself.

"Cole, I like for you: you're the one that didn't give up on me, even when I pushed you away.  You're the one that helped me deal with my demons; putting down and burying my sister. You're the one that helped me feel like a human being again...but that doesn't mean I don't want to do things with you, I totally do-" Cole reached and gently placed his hand over mine "Chandler that was an amazing speech, can I have a turn to talk now?" I turned red and simply nodded.

Cole smiled before saying "All I wanted to say is that, even though communication isn't your strong suit, we still need to talk.   What happened last night wasn't nearly as bad as you thought it was, and a simple conversation would have done wonders.   Please if something is bothering you, say something; let's talk about it rather than you just shutting me out". I sighed "You're right, I know you're right, I can't even defend my actions  and I won't try too".

Cole stood up "Well shall we continue looking then?" he said as he walked into the bathroom of this apartment, that's one of the things I loved about Cole: he never made anything more awkward than it needed to be. 

-

"Last place and then we'll head back" I said as I picked the lock on the last apartment on the first floor and Cole placed my hat back on my head again.  "The girls will be disappointed" Cole said as he scratched one of his dogs behind her ears "This is the most exercise they've gotten in awhile".  We entered the apartment, it was different than the rest but I couldn't place my finger on why. 

Cole's dogs pushed passed my legs and entered the apartment.  I looked around the room, trying to figure out what was bothering me. "Cole let's go, something about this place is giving me the creeps" I said, trying to be safe than sorry.  Cole chuckled "Don't be such a worrywart if there was anything bad inside the girls would have told us already, you're adorable when you're worried"

I walked over to the counter where a lone, opened, empty can of apples were sitting on the counter;  I stared at it until my eyes wandered to the corner of the living room to where a pile of blankets were on the floor and then I realized what was bothering me, the apartment was too clean. 

All of the places we've been inside had a layer of dust on everything from where no one has touched it for months, but this place was clean.  I dragged my finger across the counter and look at it, confirming my fears. 

As Cole started rooting around in one of the bedrooms I looked inside the can of apples as something inside reflected light; I dropped the can as I realized that the inside was still wet from the juice.  "Cole we have to go, someone lives here" I can running to the bedroom; Cole looked up at me from a magazine "What are you talking about?"  I grabbed his wrist "I'll tell you later, just come on!" I said pulling him out of the bedroom.  My blood ran cold though as I heard faint voices and I shoved Cole back inside the bedroom of the apartment.

 


	18. Chapter 18

Louis' POV

Harry, Jordan, Aurora and I stumbled into a random apartment with our four captors; our hands were tied behind our backs with plastic zip ties and we didn't try to run since one of them had a gun.  "Take a seat anywhere" the guy with the gun said specifically mentioning the couches in the sitting room.  

"Let's just try to keep this pleasant, I have a few questions and then you can walk out that door, no one has to get hurt alright?" He said as he sat in a chair facing us, holding his gun out.  "That sounds like a great plan" I said trying to keep the mood light, the guy nodded "So you mentioned you were looking for your son and his friend, you guys must be from around here right? Where are you holed up?"

I shrugged "Not too far, we're just passing through" I said, hoping that was the correct answer; I obviously didn't want to tell him where we actually lived in case he wasn't as friendly as he said he was.  The guy sighed "Ok I'll just make this real easy, let's just answer with yes or no where-"

"Dammit Charlie" one of the guys said "You dropped your breakfast and now there is apple juice all over the damn floor".  "Relax Raul, it's just a little puddle" another of the guys said "If you tell me to relax one more damn time I'll cut out your tongue and use it to clean the floor-" "Hey, Hey fellas we have guests, so try to show some manners!" The guy with the gun said.

"Anyway" the guy with the gun said turning back to us "Yes or no answers only ok? Are you from the airport?" "No" I answered truthfully. The guy made a face "See, I want to believe you, I do...but your accents, I just can't get passed them...so what I think happened is that you came here from England or something for vacation and then got stuck here. That's a shame, but no one at the airport has clean hands".

What the hell was he talking about? "We're not from the airport, we're just looking for his son and his son's friend" Harry said.  Harry and I never said we were a couple until we knew how someone would react to the news; and in this situation the last thing we needed was to get hurt because the guy didn't like gay people.  

"What about you two?" The guy said turning to Jordan and Aurora who have been letting us do the talking.  "We're just friends of theirs" Jordan said quickly "Her and I are in-laws; they're telling the truth, we're not from the airport...we actually live at the apartments on Watercress Ave and Lotus St". 

The guy nodded and stood up "That's neat that's actually close by" he said as he walked over and suddenly slapped Jordan hard across the face, so hard that Jordan's lip split and he would toppled over if it wasn't for my shoulder "Except that the building got torn down last year; good lie though, that would have worked...but that begs the question why would you feel the need the lie? We were having such a nice conversation weren't we?".  Jordan sat back up and licked his bleeding lip, I had to think of something. 

"I can probably get her to talk" a guy said who had been quiet up until this, leaning on the counter; he walked up to Aurora and ran his finger across her lower lip.  He cursed as she actually bit his thumb and drew blood "Please don't hurt her" Jordan said as he the guy pulled Aurora down the hall by her elbow, sucking on his thumb.  I didn't know what to say, the last thing I wanted was to make it worse; I felt so helpless it was infuriating, the only good thing was that my son wasn't here. 

The door closed and the guy with the gun turned back to us "You people at the airport you're pure scum you know that, rolling through here and taking everything you can-" I stopped listening as a door slowly opened behind him and Chandler carefully, slowly poked out his head; I heard Harry intake a sharp breath as he saw what I saw. 

Chandler and I made eye contact and he turned back into the room say something; he loaded his crossbow and slipped out of the room, Cole following close behind him drawing that sword that he found. They tried to close the door before Cole's dogs got out but since they were trying to be quiet it didn't work.  This could only end badly, from their point of view there was only two people, they couldn't see the one in the kitchen and they couldn't see the gun the guy had. 

Cole tried to grab one of his dogs who walked right up to the guy with the gun and sniffed his hand.  The guy jumped up and screamed, and at that moment Chandler fired his crossbow at the other guy he saw, which lodged in the guy's chest and he fell over; before dropping his crossbow and tackling the guy with the gun with his knife drawn.

The guy in the kitchen took a rolling pin and tried to swing it at Chandler, but Cole stepped out from the hallway at that exact moment and got hit in the face with the rolling pin instead; making him fall backwards, unconscious as blood flowed from his broken nose, miraculously though his glasses were undamaged.  I didn't even know what I was doing, I jumped to my feet and tackled the guy with my shoulder since I couldn't use my hands, my only thought was to protect my son.

The room was chaos filled with the sound of grunts, cries of pain the barking of Cole's dogs, Jordan and Harry tried to cut the zipties with Cole's sword that had fallen as the Chandler rolled around the floor trying to get the gun his attacker had.  The wind got knocked out of me and the guy I tackled, kicked me hard in the stomach; but seeing my son, unconscious and bleeding on the floor filled me with a primal rage that made me ignore the pain. 

The guy kicked me again but Jordan shoved him off of me, finally getting his hands free.  Picking up the rolling pin he tried to swing it at the man but the man caught it mid-air and punched Jordan hard in the stomach. 

Harry kneeled next me and cut the plastic with the sword.  "Jesus Louis" Harry said looking at my bloody wrists from where I tried to force my hands free, somehow finding time to be worried at a time like this.   "Take Cole and get out of here" I said before grabbing the sword from Harry's hand  and ran to the guy that was trying to fight off Cole's dogs, Chandler's bolt still sticking out of his chest; the guy turn to me as he saw me and that was all the opening Cole's dog needed.  One of them jumped on the middle of his chest and brought her fangs to his throat before ripping it out. 

The sight didn't even phase me, I just ran over to help Chandler, the poor lad was covered in various bruises and was bleeding all over, but was fighting for all he was worth; what was horrifying though was that Chandler a long bleeding gash in the middle of his left thigh, the blood from the wound soaking his pants well below the knee.

The guy finally won the wrestling match and pointed his gun to us after kicking Chandler as he stood up "Drop your weapons!" He shouted as he cocked the gun.  I dropped the sword and the guy's friend that Jordan was fighting scrambled away from Jordan, he seemed to have a broken jaw caused by Jordan and the rolling pin. 

"I won't forget this, one day you'll get karma and your little airport safe spot will be destroyed" he snarled as he pointed the gun at me and pulled the trigger. I flinched as I heard the bullet whizz past me and the two men ran out of the apartment.  Chandler tried to get up and chase them but as he put weight on his left leg, his leg gave out and he fell. 

"Harry" I heard Jordan gasp behind me; I turned and saw a growing red stain on Harry's shirt, but he covered it with his hand "I'm fine, from it's location it missed my vital organs" Jordan nodded before his eyes went wide "Aurora!" He shouted as he threw open the door. 

I ran after him and we found Aurora sitting on top of the chest's guy smothering him with a pillow.  Aurora looked at us when we entered, she rolled her eyes at Jordan as the guy under her struggled against her weaker and weaker. 

After Aurora's attacked died we went back to the living room where Harry was tying an old shirt around Chandler's leg, ignoring his own wound "That should hold you over until we get back". Harry turned back to us "Louis, Jordan; do you think you can carry Cole back? He's still unconscious" he said before turning to look at our son who just looked like he fell asleep with a bloody nose, his dogs laid with him as usual; one of them had blood on her muzzle and seemed completely out of place from her friendly, concerned behavior. 

We both nodded to each other and carried Cole on our shoulders, slowly limping back to the police station; Harry and Aurora both tried to offer help to Chandler but he stubbornly refused.


	19. Chapter 19

Cole's POV

I sat in the office  where my parents and I slept at night; Dad was still bleeding heavily  from the gunshot wound he got during the fight where I got knocked out.    "Liam you have too, you're the only one with any medical experience"  Dad was saying as Pops and Zayn cleaned the desk inside the office,  Chandler was downstairs watching the baby. 

"Harry this is  completely over my head, I've never done any surgery!  My job as a  firefighter and a paramedic was to treat minor injuries and stuff! It  was more serious my job was to keep people alive until they arrived at a  hospital! Where people like you would take care of them! Liam  protested, terrified "You're asking me to cut you open and look for this  bullet!" "Liam, you're the only one that can do this" Dad repeated.

Zayn held the blade of  Chandler's knife, the sharpest blade we had, over the fire from  Chandler's lighter to sanitized it.  Pops set towels, bandages and  cleaned, boiled water near the table; Liam took a deep breath as he took  the knife from Zayn and Dad laid down.  "Harry, this might help" Pops  said as he held the bottle of tequila Chandler found yesterday. 

Dad took four long  drinks before coughing and laying back down; Pops unwrapped the bandages  as Liam slowly lost the color in his face while Dad said "Cole, my son,  you have to hold my legs; we don't have any anesthesia so my body will  instinctively try to protect itself from the pain and I don't want to  kick you by accident".

Pops offered a clean  sock that he folded and handed to Dad who bit down on it and nodded to  Liam.  Pops took Dad's wrists and held them above his head before  pressing their foreheads together. "Harry on the count of three,  one...two...three" Liam said as he sunk the blade went into Dad's side.  

-

Chandler's  POV

I sang loudly to the  baby, ignoring the pain in my leg; Harry's screams were exactly the same  as my own parents when they were attacked by walkers and it took  everything not to cover my ears and curl into a ball.  The baby stared  at me, as if trying to decide if I was insane or just plain crazy, she  was quiet though which I was beyond thankful for.  I was careful to keep  her from my wound which was still bleeding but finally seemed to be  slowing down thanks to the shirt I wrapped around it. 

After what felt like  years the screaming stopped and I could finally stop sing-shouting.  The  baby smiled at me and tried to pat my arm like it was trying to comfort  me, but because she couldn't fully control her limbs she just ended up  slapping her little hand on my arm repeatedly, which made me smile.  She  tried to investigate my leg but I laid on my back and held her in the  air before gently shaking her from side to side, making little airplane  noises as she "flew" through the air. 

I looked as the door  opened and Cole, with a bandage over his nose, was standing there  holding several things in his hands, Katelyn stood right next to him.   "Cole, are you ok?" I asked as I held the baby in the air, temporarily  forgetting about her, he nodded "Yeah I'm just here to give you first  aid while Pops takes care of Dad and Liam checks in on Jordan and  Aurora" he said as he walked to my sleeping back and sat on it, setting  down everything he held in his hands.

"I'll take the baby off  your hands" Katelyn said holding out her arms.  I glared at her and set  the baby on my chest; if she thinks I was going to trust her or her  family with the baby after Jordan what did, these people were bigger  idiots than I thought they were. 

I glared at her until  she felt awkward "Well...if she becomes fussy or anything I'll be  upstairs" she said before leaving.  Cole looked at me "I don't trust  them" was all I said as I kissed the baby very softly on the top of her  little head and chuckled as her soft hair tickled my nose.  Cole  shrugged and looked at my leg "Let's get you cleaned up yeah?" he said  as he took the baby in my arms and laid her against one of the sides of  his dogs who was lying down, the dog  just sniffed at the baby but  didn't move afterwards. 

Cole focused on my face  first, using rubbing alcohol to clean the various bruises and cuts on my  face. "Your glasses must be killing you" I commented. He placed a hand  on my chin and turned my face slightly before saying "Actually Liam put  hard plastic on the outside of my bandages so my glasses wouldn't touch  my nose.  "That's good" I nodded or tried too, since Cole held my chin.

After he finished with  my face, Cole tried to roll up my pants leg but couldn't roll them up  high enough "Chandler maybe we should...err...you know". I knew we  needed to take of my pants but it was adorable to see Cole blush and be  flustered like this.  "Yeah?" I asked innocently.  Cole looked at me and  studied my face "You're enjoying this aren't you?" He asked  suspiciously. 

I chuckled at myself and  unbuttoned my jeans .  As I used my knife that Cole offered back to me  me to get my injured thigh out of my jeans I realized something: I was  one strange human being. Kissing my boyfriend was the most awkward thing  ever but I had no issues taking off my clothes? Chandler what the hell  is wrong with you?

I finally cut off my  jeans, they would never be able to be used again, and sat back as Cole  reopened the bag of cotton balls and rubbing alcohol, I've never seen  someone look so red.  I looked down at my lap to make sure that I wasn't  accidentally showing through the slit in my boxer briefs.   "This...is...uhh...gonna sting" Cole said, trying his hardest to keep  focused on my injury.

Cole dabbed the cotton  ball that had rubbing alcohol near the edge and my leg twitched in  reflex as it stung.  Cole placed his hand on the thigh and looked at me  as if he expected a protest, when I didn't say anything he just start  dabbing again.  Feeling a little sorry for him I broke the silence "I'm  happy you're ok, when I saw you go down at that apartment I thought I  was going to die".

Cole looked at me "You  thought you were going to die? Because I got knockout out...?" I nodded  "There wouldn't have been anyway I would have just left you there...I  needed to protect you." Wow Chandler could you seriously be anymore  cheesy? Next thing you know you're going to be on a sinking ship in ice  water saying "Let me go Cole, so you can live".  Trying to save myself  from myself I added "But then your father just went into beast mode and  just flew at that guy; seriously I thought it was one of your dogs". 

Cole looked up at me and  smiled, seeming to ignore the last part he said "Thanks Chandler".   "I'd do anything for you Cole; you've done so much for me" I said  softly, kind of embarrassed, Cole smiled again and on a whim I gently  grabbed his chin with my hand and guided his lips to mine.  I didn't  even think about what I was doing, I didn't want to ruin the moment or  psych myself out.  His lips were the softest, warmest things I have ever  felt.

I felt his tongue gently  poke my lips and it took me a moment to realize what he wanted; opening  my mouth slightly, our tongues met in the middle and danced with each  other.  I started to pull away, I wanted to end my first real kiss on a  high note before I screwed anything up like I always did; Cole however  brought a gentle hand to the back of my neck, firm enough to let me know  what he wanted, but he wasn't forcing me to continue to kiss him. 

Cole finally pulled away  and he looked at me with the largest smile I've ever seen on him, even  larger than when he killed his first walker.  The moment was ruined  however when I realized that my body enjoyed the kiss as much I did; I  tried to be discreet and cross my legs before Cole saw, it didn't work  of course.  In fact, it made it worse since bending my leg caused my  wound to split open again. 

Cole looked at me,  slightly tilting his head "Chandler why are you so embarrassed and  ashamed? I mean we're boyfriends, it's not like we're total  strangers...this morning you said that you were worried that you thought  that I would think that you only wanted me for sex right?" Cole said as  he point back and forward between us to keep his train of thought as he  spoke. I nodded and softly said "Yeah".

Cole tilted his head  slightly further to the side  "I don't think that at all...Would you  feel better if i said that my body reacted also?" I looked at him as he  took my hand and brought it to his crotch where a definite hardness  could be felt "Because it does..and if you're a creep than I'm a creep  too; sounds like we go perfectly together" he continued with a smile. 

I just sat there,  stunned, not because of what I felt beneath my hand, which Cole still  held against his lap, but because he was so forward, direct and honest; I  really wish I could be like that instead of just falling over myself  whenever I opened my mouth. 

"You're so amazing" I  said as Cole let go of my wrist. He blinked at me "Do you mean in  general...or are you specifically referencing...what just happened and  what you felt?" I chuckled "I mean in general Cole, I honestly...you  always surprise me".

Cole chuckled along with  me and straightened my leg again, much to his credit he ignored my  painfully obvious erection and continued to clean the cut and then wrap a  bandage around my entire thigh.

He helped me into a pair  of grey sweatpants that belonged to him, they were slightly short,  cutting off right above my ankles, but they were roomy enough though  that they didn't rub against the bandage.  We both looked as Jordan  knocked on the door and entered; the sight of him instantly infuriated  me.  He was covered in various bruises and had a split lip but was in  far better shape than I was. 

"Hey boys, I just wanted  to make sure you're alright" he said as he leaned against the  doorframe, smiling.  "We're fine, considering you tried to kill us" I  spat.  Jordan's smile fell "What are you talking about?" I got to my  feet but leaned against the wall for support, speaking in a slow voice I  said "I told you _very_ specifically that we were fine and we  didn't want you to come with us.  You cased all of this to happen.  If  you hadn't gotten Cole's parents, you wouldn't have been captured and  thus the people living in that apartment wouldn't have returned at the  time they did; this whole entire situation was caused because of you".

"Wait, I was just trying  to help, I thought it would have been dangerous if the two of you went  alone and-"Jordan started saying but I cut him off, shouting "You made  it dangerous! The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and you  nearly got us all killed because "you wanted to help" their blood is on  your hands and your hands only!" I ignored the baby as it started to  cry, which caused Cole to pick her up and sit in a corner. "Now wait a  second Chandler" Jordan started saying again but again I cut him off,  not taking any of it "You caused Cole's dad to get shot! If it was up to  me I would send you away from here-"

"Hey! What's all the  yelling about?"  Louis said coming downstairs, using a parental voice.  I  just stood there, shaking from how angry I was and from the fire that  seared in my thigh from standing.   "I'm sorry for getting everyone  hurt...I was just trying to help" Jordan said softly before going back  upstairs. 

Louis watched him go  back upstairs before turning to me "Chandler try to take it easy, we'll  let Harry rest today and tomorrow he'll come see you alright?" Louis  then turned to Cole "Cole do you mind sleeping somewhere else tonight? I  really want your dad to sleep on his own mattress just to be extra  careful with his wound, it was really deep and he still hasn't fully  stop bleeding from the "operation". Cole nodded before Louis went back  upstairs. 

Cole's POV

After Pops left,  Chandler dropped the fake smile he had on for him and looked as angry as  a thunder cloud. I continued to sit in the corner with Faith the the  girls; there wasn't a doubt in my mind that if Chandler had been able to  walk, that he would have attacked Jordan. 

Chandler saw me giving  him distance and immediately his features softened, limping back and  falling onto his sleeping bag he said  "I'm sorry I went off Cole, but  he's to blame for everything that happened. He hurt you" he said as if  it was the worse crime someone could ever commit. He smiled at me as he  patted the space next to him to invite me to sit. 

When I sat by him he  bopped Faith's little nose with his finger so gently and playfully that I  got whiplash from his mood swing, which hasn't really happened since  the warehouse.  I guess Chandler was like a volcano, even if he seems  calm he can explode at any time.  "I just realized, you haven't smoked  all day" I commented, still thinking about volcanoes. 

Chandler titled his head  "Yeah I guess you're right...huh...thinking about it: I've only smoked  once since we buried my sister. I guess don't need too anymore; I guess  you're my stress reliever instead of cigarettes" he said with a smile. 

I looked away as I could  feel my cheeks become warm and I nearly fell over and Chandler kissed  my cheeks; Chandler almost never showed any affections, it was usually  me! Was he finally starting to feel more comfortable around me? Maybe I  should force him touch my dick more often. 

"What are you smirking  about, Cinnamon Roll?" Chandler asked me, studying my face.  "Just how  natural are you with babies" I said, which wasn't a total lie, Chandler  was great with the baby.  Chandler smiled and took the baby from my lap  "Let's get some sleep, I'm exhausted and my leg is killing me" he said  as he set the baby on his sleeping bag.

We fell asleep with the  baby in the middle of us, or tired too until we realized there wouldn't be  enough room for all three of us since Faith liked to sleep spread  eagle.  Chandler ended up placing her on his chest after she kicked me  in the ribs for a second time; where she spent the rest of the night.


	20. Chapter 20

Louis's POV

I dipped the cloth into the water and tried to bathe Harry the best I could; the day after the fight he was bedridden all day from blood loss and now three days later, infection was starting to set into his wound despite our best efforts. 

The gunshot wound would reopen up from the slightest movement and Harry insisted that the little medication we did have went mainly to Chandler for his leg.  Harry argued that if worse came to worse, Chandler might lose his leg from infection which was worse than whatever would happen to him. 

I dipped the cloth into the water bucket again and rung it out as I cleaned Harry's chest "What's wrong? You're doing that worried-eyebrow-squint thing again" he said.  "Harry you're not getting any better and if fever sets in we're screwed" I said truthfully; after twenty years of marriage we didn't try to sugarcoat or hide anything from each other.   "We'll be fine Louis; I'm just weak from blood loss, once I heal up a little more the infection will clear up and it'll all get better" Harry said with a smile. 

-

The two days later I looked up as Chandler walked in, limping heavily on his leg but refusing to rest, seeing me he walked over and took out two little pill bottles from his backpack "Would these help?" He asked.  I looked at them and referenced the list Harry and Liam made of common antibiotics; Chandler was out for most of the day yesterday and today, making it his mission to find medication for Harry.  Jordan, feeling responsible because of what Chandler said, was also searching every chance he got after getting back his spear. 

Harry's infection was worse, his wound now had angry red lines spider-webbing from it and he has had a slight fever since yesterday; his fever has been hovering between 100 and 102 degrees and Liam was worried that Harry's fever would reach past the dangerous mark of 103.

"Thank you Chandler" I said taking the pill bottles, but not answering his question. One set of pills was for herpes and the other was for acne, from reading the bottles, but I didn't want to tell him that; Chandler needed rest and if I told him the truth he would just walk out the door again.

Chandler nodded, knowing that I was lying to him "I'll go back out soon, my leg is killing me; I'll head back out after I take a nap" he said before limping down the hall to where Cole and Enrique sat.  I walked into our room where Harry was laying in his underwear on a mattress with Liam sitting right next to him changing the wet socks we were trying to use to bring his temperature down by placing them on his forehead and neck.

"How you doing, Love?" I asked sitting on the floor next to Harry, he weakly opened his eyes at me and tried to smile "I feel like I'm at the spa with two sexy masseurs" he said before glancing at Liam and chuckling to himself.  Liam forced a chuckle that sounded very fake, since he was as nervous as I was, before standing up "I'll go make you some nice, cold tea".

I watched him leave before turning back to Harry "Don't give me that look" he said in a whisper voice, unable to manage anything louder "Nothing is going to happen to me Louis; I'm going to hold you to the promise that for our thirtieth anniversary you'll take me to Paris".   I smiled "I'd love that Harry". 

Harry sighed and adjusted the sock on his forehead "How is everyone else? Had you made sure that Cole's nose is still straight? If it becomes crooked right now it'll heal that way and be stuck like that permanently.  How is Chandler's leg?" "Everyone is fine Harry, Liam checks on them constantly... you should be more worried about yourself" I said as I opened a bottle of water and offered it to Harry who weakly raised his head.

After taking a drink Harry smiled "I already have five people worrying about me: You, Liam, Cole, Zayn and Chandler, we don't need another".  We looked to the door as it opened and saw Enrique and Cole standing there, Enrique a small paper figure in his hands; Cole guided the boy by his shoulder and Enrique sat right next to me "Dr. Tomlinson I made this for you" Enrique said holding out a small flower figure.

I took it and placed it in Harry's trembling hands "It's a flower, a chrysanthemum blossom to be exact; which the Japanese believed to have healing powers...I hope it makes you feel better...and people bring flowers to other people when they're stick right?" Enrique said.  "You made this?" Harry asked, turning the paper figure in his hands.  "Yeah, Jordan pushed me to do origami when I was younger because it was calming and I just stuck with it, I really like it".  Harry reached and touched Enrique's arm "Thank you, I really like it".

"Come on Eric, let's let Dad rest" Cole said standing up "Get well soon Dad" Cole said, nearly begging, before he closed the door.  Liam entered a moment later "I have some tea and I made soup for you Harry".

-

That night I was woken up by the sound Harry vomiting, the room got lit up as Cole turned on a flashlight "Pops what's wrong with him?" He asked, panicking "I don't know, go get Liam" I said as I turned Harry to his side and tried to clean his mouth.  His eyes were tightly closed, his breathing was ragged and he was slightly shaking

Liam ran into the room without a shirt, taking the thermometer from the small bag we had beside Harry's bed Liam gently pressed into Harry's ear, after a moment he pulled it out "His fever is 107, we gotta bring it down".

I handed Liam the bottle of water, he took it but instead of offering it to Harry drink he opened the bottle and gently poured the water over Harry's face and chest.  "Cole take one of your dad's shirts and pour water over it and then place it over his chest" Liam instructed before turning to me "Louis help me put him on the floor, the wood is cooler than the mattress".

Liam tried to do everything he could think of, but it only brought down Harry's temperature by half a degree.  "Where are you going?" I heard Cole ask, turning to the door of the room I saw Chandler walking pass with his hat, crossbow and flashlight "Chandler it's pitch black outside" Cole protested "You said yourself that to go outside at night is to die".  Chandler turned to Cole "I'd rather die knowing at least I tried; your dad needs help and if I wasn't for me you wouldn't have gone with me and he wouldn't have gone to look for you.  This is partially my fault". 

"Chandler, stop; Harry wouldn't want you to get hurt because of him" I said "As much as the gesture is appreciated we don't need you getting hurt even worse because of him.  If you still want to go out in the morning I won't stop you, deal?" Chandler opened his mouth to say something before closing it as both of Cole's dogs turned in the exact same direction at the exact same time, ears perked. 

"Hey we heard voices, is everything ok?" Katelyn asked. "Guys, I hear cars" Enrique said from behind her.  Liam and I looked at each other "I don't hear anything" I said.  "Eric is never wrong when it comes to sounds, we should assume the worse" Katelyn said quickly, looking at me.  "Harry can't be moved, if the scab opens again it'll be disastrous" Liam said turning to me.

Before I could even think I heard the low rumble of a massive car engine.  "Guys try to barricade the doors again, turn off all flash lights; we'll lay low until they pass" I finally said.  "Liam take everyone downstairs; if anything happens to me you guys need to survive.  Use the key to release the walkers from the holding cell, it should buy you enough time for everyone to escape through that window in Chandler's room".

"You're not coming with us Louis?" Liam asked, I shook my head "I made a vow to Harry "til death do us part" I'm not going to leave him, least of all like this".  "Pops, don't do this" Cole said in a small voice; I heard the car engines get steadily louder "Cole you've always wanted a little sister, take care of Faith alright" I said with a smile as Liam pulled Cole by the arm.

Cole tore himself away from Liam and ran to hug me "If there is one thing you've taught me Papa, it to never run away from your problems" he said into my chest before pulling away; he walked over and grabbed that damned sword before drawing the steel from the sheath "I'm not leaving".  A surge of pride filled my chest as I saw my son stand his ground with a firm look in his eyes. 

"Just as stubborn as your father is Cole" Zayn said, walking in with the baby who was fully awake "Liam if you walk away from them you'll regret it for the rest of your life, I know you and since you're not going anywhere neither am I" he turned to Katelyn "You and yours should get out of here though" he said giving the baby to Katelyn "Take care of her for me please".

Katelyn nodded before taking the baby and walking out of the room; by now the engines, since they were close enough that we could tell that there was more than one, were right on top of us,  we didn't have any time to prepare.  Jordan ran into the room holding several guns "Use these, they might help; Louis there is a bakery five blocks down the street ok? We'll wait for you there" he said as he gave Liam, Zayn and I a gun.

The three of us looked at each other, none of us had any idea how to use a gun; Chandler walked over to me "This is the safety, click it off when you want to shoot "Chandler said pointing to a specific part of the gun before going on "Don't put your finger on the trigger unless you're ready to kill something" Chandler opened his mouth to say something but closed it when we heard a voice come over a megaphone "If there is anyone inside the police station, come out; we won't hurt you". 

All of us looked at each other, but no one moved. A moment later we heard the front door open and the clanking of several metal things being thrown and bouncing off the floor.  The tell tale hiss of gas being released sounded from the hallway half a second later and yellow smoke drifted towards us.

The effects were immediate, Cole's dogs rubbed their faces with their front paws and started to cough and wheeze. A moment later my eyes nose and throat started burning horribly and everyone start coughing; even though I put my arm over my nose, my eyes felt like they were melting out of my head. 

The dogs, unable to take it anymore; ran out in the direction of the doors.  Chandler had his shirt over his nose and mouth while he took his hat and pressed the hole of the hat into Cole's face so Cole's face was completely covered by his hat. 

I looked at the doorway as the light beams of flashlights started dancing through the yellow haze of the smoke.  We were unable to put up much of a fight as they dragged us out out of the building; but it didn't stop Chandler from pulling out his knife or Liam trying to get one of them in a headlock.  

All of us were dragged out and dropped in a line in front of what appeared to be two soldiers standing in front of two trucks.  I couldn't see their faces since they wore helmets that covered their entire face, they were obviously military though.   The taller one dropped a handful of gas masks on the ground in front us and took a step back. 

Whatever was inside the gas masks immensely helped; after only a single breath I stopped coughing.  I looked over to make sure Cole was alright and was surprised when I saw Harry on the ground next to him, Cole using his free hand to hold a gas mask to his dad's face.  Chandler was also holding a mask for Cole's dogs who had their noses pressed against the metal canister of the gas masks.  .

"Lieutenant there seems to be movement  from the south side of the building" a person said from inside one of the trucks, staring at a faintly glowing screen.  The smaller one turned to speak to some soldiers "Go find them and bring them here, nonlethal only.  Remember they probably have a baby with them". How could they know that?

As a group of soldiers left the smaller one turned back to us "Is he alright?" the smaller figure asked, looking at Harry.  "He's sick" I said simply. The smaller figure turned to the person in the truck "Call for a Phoenix, just a transport; we don't need a gunship" 

"Lieutenant we don't have clearance to request-" "I'll deal with Oshihiro if she asks any questions" the smaller figure said cutting off the person in the truck "I want lookouts and a perimeter set up, the sound of the Phoenix will draw any Tangos for miles around" the smaller figure addressed everyone who scattered just leaving behind us and the two of them.

As soon as the others left, I flinched as the smaller figure ran right at me and sat there stunned as they crushed me in a bear hug.  "I've missed you so much, I came as soon as I could" they said. When I didn't return the hug the stranger pulled away and took off their helmet.

It was Anastasia, my daughter.


	21. Chapter 21

Cole's POV

I've only seen Pops cry twice; once at my eighteenth birthday since my sister wasn't there and right now. He sobbed openly and kissed my sister all over her cheeks; Ana's eyes met mine and she rolled them, but I could tell she was just as happy and relieved as Pops was. Ana was in the middle of a group hug between all of us, except for Chandler who just stood off the the side, confused.

"Chandler this is my twin sister, Anastasia this is my boyfriend Chandler" I said, finally pulling away from the hug. Ana nodded at him, not able to do much else. Ana, however, quickly wiggled free from the hug and stood up as the soldiers came back; escorting Eric and Kaitlyn, who held the baby, while carrying Jordan and Aurora over their shoulders.

"These two resisted, so we used electro-darts per your orders, Lieutenant" one of the soldiers said, dropping Jordan like he was a sack of potatoes. "Electro-darts are militarized versions of tasers" Ana explained before turning to the soldiers "Support the perimeter, we have a Phoenix en route" they all saluted and scattered.

"How did you become an officer?" I asked as Pops wiped his face. Ana smiled "What, after me bullying you for seventeen years you don't think I can boss people around?". "Where's Niall? Is Niall with you too?" Zayn asked. Ana's smile fell and she looked away, with a deep sigh she started to tell us the story.

-

Ana's POV

I disembarked from the plane after the short flight from Doncaster to Dublin; after spending most of the autumn with my aunt I was excited to get back home to the states. Cole was going to a university next year, obviously, since he was so smart; I however didn't have a plan. My aunt Charlotte, Pop's little sister, offered for me to live with her and her family so I could attend my last year of school here in England to give me a different perspective...or something.

I had a plane transfer, from Doncaster to Dublin with the destination of Los Angeles. I found Uncle Niall waiting for me, but with bags surprisingly. "Going somewhere and leaving me with Sophia?" I teased as I walked up to him. He chuckled "I changed our flights around, instead of leaving tomorrow we leave in" he checked his watch "three hours".

"Really? You can just do that? What about your work?" I asked. Niall chuckled "I own golf courses Ana; the worst that can happen is that the grass doesn't get watered, and that's why I have staff". He placed a fatherly hand around my shoulders "Let's get checked in and we'll get some lunch alright?"

Uncle Niall and I sat in a restaurant at the airport "So how is Sophia?" I asked as I took a bite of my burger. Uncle Niall nodded still chewing on his steak and potatoes "Good, can you keep a secret?" he asked as he leaned forward and lowered his voice "After I come back to Ireland after New Year's, I'm going to propose. Her and I have been dating for nine years and recently she's been dropping huge hints" he said with a smile.

"Oh congratulations! I'm so happy, I love Sophia, she's so nice!" I said, genuinely happy for him. Uncle Niall smiled "She went back to see her family in Austria for the holidays so I made sure my return date is the day before her's; my plan is to surprise her at the airport with a sign that says "Future Mrs. Horan" along with the ring. "That's so romantic" I sighed.

We chatted for a while before boarding our flight, since Uncle Niall bought these tickets; we sat in first class. "So how is everyone doing?" He asked as we buckled into our seats, I nodded "Good, Cole called me earlier and said that our parents are finally letting us have dogs, he was so excited". Uncle Niall chuckled, but glanced at me from the food and drinks menu when he saw I didn't return the smile "Are you?" he asked.

I sighed "Kinda, but since I'm living in Doncaster with my aunt I'll only be able to see my dog for like two weeks". Uncle Niall ordered a drink along with a soda for me from the flight attendant before scratching his chin and saying "That is an issue, I'm sure everything will work itself out though".

I enjoyed the flight, Uncle Niall bought all the entertainment packages for me so I spent most of the eleven hour flight catching up on all the movies I've missed; he also bought me everything I wanted. Uncle Niall was definitely Cole's and I favorite "uncle", whenever we were upset when we were little we'd threaten to run away to Ireland to live with him.

Near the end of the last movie I was watching, the pilot came on the p.a. system "Ladies and Gentlemen we've started our descent in Los Angeles, however due to some riots that seem to be happening in Los Angeles at the moment: passengers are unable to leave the airport". All of the passengers let out a groan at the exact same time but the pilot went on "Because of this LAX is giving out thirty dollar food vouchers, you can pick up the vouchers at any store after showing your boarding pass". "I hope everyone is alright" Uncle Niall said worriedly.

A few minutes later I looked out the window, it seemed to be a beautiful day but something wasn't right. Below us helicopters and military aircraft could be seeing darting around like angry bees "Uncle Niall, are those fires?" I asked, nudging his arm with my elbow before pointing out the window. His eyebrows furrowed as he nodded "I really, _really_ hope everyone is safe".

Our flight landed and shockingly the airport seemed to be doing business as usual except for all the outbound flights being cancelled. There was definitely an air of annoyance but that was it; the televisions were still playing normal programming. "Let's get our baggage and find a spot to wait" Niall said as we went to the baggage carousel. I tried to call my parents and brother to let them know I landed but couldn't get through, Uncle Niall tried as well but had no luck.

After we got our bags, which included Niall's golf clubs, I wandered over to what seemed to be soldiers blocking the exit. "Everyone, as soon as the situation is under control you can return home" an Asian woman said who seemed to be the leader. "I live twenty minutes away, I'll take my chances" a guy angrily responded.

Everyone looked over as a scream sounded off to the side toward the check-in counters...was that woman _eating_ that guy's shoulder? Everyone panicked and scattered as one of the soldiers shot at the woman with their rifle.

As I watched in horror a bus crashed into the terminal, near where we were all standing; I was yanked away as Uncle Niall pulled me away by my arm. Panic spread as people started running in all directions and as only made worse by the gunfire that could be heard. Everyone was running in different directions so chaos soon erupted.

Somehow over all of the noise Uncle Niall heard a little boy crying; looking over, there was a little boy separated from his family, being forced into a corner by a man who seemed to be...dead? Niall dropped all of his bags and tackled the guy to try to save the little boy; the man however turned and bit Niall in the arm before I grabbed one of Uncle Niall's golf clubs and attacked the man with it.

"Are you ok?" Uncle Niall asked the little boy, ignoring the bite on his arm. The little boy showed a scratch on his shoulder in response but Uncle Niall smiled "It's ok, we'll take care of that". We looked over as a couple of soldiers ran passed, over their shoulders they shouted "Head to gate 42, we're setting up a safe zone". "Come on little lad" Uncle Niall said as he picked up the little boy and one of his bags before we ran deeper into the airport.

Once we arrived at the gate, the injured were separated from the healthy to "receive treatment". "Don't worry Ana, I'll see you soon ok? Don't worry princess" Uncle Niall said as he hug me with one arm; I tried to frown but I couldn't, I was so scared "I hate it when people call me that".

Chandler's POV

Ana took a shuddering breath as she finished telling everyone what happened "And that was the last time I saw Uncle Niall...you know how fatal a bite is, it isn't hard to figure out what happened". Ana instantly got my respect, the fact that she could tell that entire story and only crack at the end spoke volumes of her character; especially when everyone else broke down when Niall got bitten, whoever he was, obviously he was someone important to them. Cole cried into my shoulder, his shoulders shaking with every sob.

Ana's head snapped around as the faint hum of a helicopter could be heard. "Everyone stay frosty, the Phoenix is approaching" she said into what seemed to be a walkie-talkie before turning to us "Do you have everything? We're not coming back here". I looked over to the bags that Jordan had and nodded, everything essential was inside; my crossbow, hat and Cole's sword were beside us.

"We have contact" a voice said from Ana's walkie-talkie before gunfire could be heard. The helicopter was right on top of us and was descending from the sky; it didn't look like a normal helicopter, instead of one large propeller on the top this one seemed to have two smaller propellers on each side that looked like wings; it was probably why it was called a Phoenix.

I faintly heard the familiar groan and looked over my shoulder to the entrance of the police station; I cursed loudly as it seemed that Jordan released the walkers from inside the holding cell and they were lurching towards us. One of them fell after being shot in the head; In surprise I turned back and saw Ana holding a pistol with one hand as the other was holding her walkie-talkie. She fired again, her face completely expressionless; killing walkers with extreme prejudice.

"Fall back to the vehicles, we soon as we board the Phoenix head to the airport" she said as she killed another walker. Ana's friend or whoever the person was that stood next to her the entire time but didn't say a word, picked up Harry as if the man was a baby and placed him inside of the Phoenix.

All of us, except for whoever that was, got inside of the Pheonix as Ana's soldiers climbed into the trucks they arrived in "Neuhart, you're in command" Ana said to her friend as the Phoenix started taking off, her friend saluted and got inside one of the trucks as well.  Cole's dogs were placed in what seemed to be cages at the very back of the helicopter.  

"We're finally going home" Ana said, smiling at her family as the Phoenix flew above the buildings.

 


	22. Chapter 22

Cole's POV

My sister came back to me! My parents and I would _always_ talk about finding her in the future but we never dared to get our hopes up!

We sat in the helicopter, Dad took up three seats since he had to be laid down; Pops sat with him, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. Liam, who held Faith, had to sit on Zayn's lap and I sat in Chandler's.  Jordsn Aurora and Katelyn sat normally though.

I sat on Chander's good leg, not really putting any weight on him; he and I were actually playing tug of war with my body. Whether he was concerned that I wasn't comfortable or just wanted me closer; he kept trying to pull me closer to him, so my back was to his chest, but I didn't want to hurt him so I refused to move. 

Below us the city looked worse than I never imagined; buildings were crumbling and figures shambled down the streets, walking around cars like angry spirits. Up here the entire city looked so surreal, like one of those video games I used to play.

"Everyone strap in, we're descending; let me do the talking" Ana said, looking down we seemed to have arrived at the airport. "I don't envy you, Lieutenant" the pilot said "Not a lot of people would volunteer to take on Oshihiro by themselves; especially after using a Phoenix, unauthorized". "Who is Oshihiro?" I asked, "She's our CO, commanding officer, she's the leader I guess you would say" Ana said, looking over her shoulder at me.

A small group of people was waiting for us when we landed with a gurney "We'll transport the sick to the medical wing" one of the people said "And Oshihiro wants all of you in her office on the double". "I want to go with him" Pops protested as the people picked up Dad and tied him to the gurney. "You can't, not yet, don't worry Pops they'll take care of him" Ana said, reassuringly. Pops looked at her "Like how they took care of my friend Niall? Harry isn't bitten, he didn't get attacked by a biter, he got shot; Chandler told us a story once that a group he was with couldn't tell the difference and they killed a woman because of it".

"Pops we're...they...alright fine" Ana turned to Chandler "You should get check out too, you have a really bad limp I've noticed" Chandler glanced at the people and moved a fraction of an inch closer to me before saying "I'm ok". "It wouldn't hurt if Dr-" Ana start saying but Chandler cut her off "I said: I'm ok".

Ana looked at me and raised her eyebrow slightly before turning back to the people "Just tell Dr. Danae that he's a civilian and she can talk to me if she has an issue with it". They nodded and Pops kissed my forehead "Be careful" he said before following them.

Chandler must have been offended or something by Ana's instance that he get checked as he refused any help as we walked through the completely empty runway even when we had to go upstairs to enter the terminal; he did a weird one legged hop instead of accepting any help.

After walking through the tarmac where more helicopters and a large number of planes were sitting, we entered the airport and all of us gasped in shock. As Ana opened the door, light spilled out into the night; it was the first time we've seen actual lights for months! "You guys have electricity?" I asked. Ana nodded "Yeah, fun fact: one gallon of airplane fuel can keep the generators running for five days".

We passed by what seemed to be a make-shift security booth and we were waved in by the man sitting at it. We entered the terminal and I stopped in my tracks, there were people here! It looked like a little make-shift city. There were people walking around! Some were even mopping the floors! Two soldiers leaned against the wall and watched everyone, were they acting like police?

We walked through the terminal and everyone was staring at us, they didn't seem too friendly and some actually scowled at us when they thought Ana wasn't looking. The various shops in the airport were actually turned into homes; looking into one it seemed that all of the shelves where items used to be for sale were taken out and replaced by sleeping bags and other "home" items, like a gas stove similar to what we had. Some "homes" had privacy in terms of curtains over the entrance so you couldn't see inside, most though were exposed.

We walked through the terminal until we arrived at an airline lounge, guarded by two soldiers. The inside was still decorated like an airline lounge, with the bottom floor being a place to sit and relax, it seemed the occupant used this as a living room. Behind the large desk, an Asian woman sat looking at some papers.

Ana walked right to her and saluted her before placing her hands behind her back and staring straight ahead. "Lieutenant, I don't remember authorizing a Phoenix for your mission" the Asian woman said, placing her papers to the side. "The situation changed, Oshihiro" Ana said, sounding completely unapologetic "my dad, the one that's a doctor, is deathly Ill; I thought it would be in the best interest to get him medical help as soon as possible".

Oshihiro folded her hands together "Ana just because these are your family doesn't mean they get special treatment alright? From now on they're treated just like everyone else" Oshihiro got up from behind her desk and walked in front of us, looking us up and down; she paused when she stood in front of Chandler.

"You've been to Hell and back haven't you? You have that look in your eyes" she said, Chandler of course, didn't answer. "Your leg is so injured that only stubbornness is keeping you standing isn't it? There is a chair right there, but you won't sit will you? I like you, we need more people like you" she said as she walked back to her desk "I understand that you're three different families so you can have 163, 164 and 165 to sleep in; I'll be interviewing all of you tomorrow to decide on your jobs...oh and please hand over any playing cards if you have any."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ana scratch her nose, a code we developed a long time ago, "We don't have any" I lied, we had about two decks; I said before looking at everyone, hoping they wouldn't contradict me, I didn't have any idea why I had to say no but I trusted me sister.

Oshihiro nodded "Good then I'll see you all tomorrow" Ana turned to Oshihiro "I would like request my quarters be moved so I may be with my family". Oshihiro crossed her arms "Granted, however if your performance is affected by this I will not hesitate to put you back into the barracks; you're too important to us for you to be distracted.

"Is this place safe?" Chandler asked. Oshihiro nodded "It is, but do not  go down sitars or leave this building, the rest of the airport is over run and we don't have the resources to clear them out and make sure they stay that way.  Thanks to 9/11 and the terrorist wars we've been able to make a stand here by guarding the entrances".    
  


 


	23. Chapter 23

Chandler's POV

I was ready to cut off my leg with my knife; after standing on it all this time it would have been less painful. Cole tried to help me lay down but I couldn't relax "No Cole, not yet" I said, leaning against the wall for a quick rest "I have to do something before I can relax". Cole raised an eyebrow "Chandler look around you, this place is safe". "If I listened to people when they said that where they were staying was safe, I would have been dead a long time ago; you shouldn't trust them either".

"I don't trust _them,_ Chandler, I trust my sister" Cole repiled. I saw his point, but unless I checked for myself I wouldn't be able to sleep comfortably. "Fine, let me go with you; the last thing I need is for you to fall somewhere" he sighed. We walked passed the stores that Cole's Uncles and Jordan's family were staying in and walked to the end of the airport.

Every exit either had a soldier standing next to it or was barricaded shut; I had to admit this place was pretty secure. As soon as we came back from walking the airport Cole unrolled the sleeping bag, gave me some painkillers and I knocked the hell out.

Cole's POV

"You know when you finally got a boyfriend I didn't think you'd pick...someone like him" my sister said behind me, turning around she was carrying several bags. "What do you mean?" I asked as she sat next to me. "I always assumed that you'd go after someone like you: bookish, quiet, polite; Chandler looks like he'd be able to walk through a wall just because he'd be too stubborn to go around. Or are you just with him because of the sex?" she chuckled

"Um..." was all I said but my sister laughed "Really? You're _still_ a virgin? Geez bro get some of that" Ana said as she pushed me with her elbow and nearly caused me to fall on Chandler. "It's different, Ana; Chandler has some very serious, deep emotional scars that he's just starting to work through." "You know what else helps people get over their past? A good lay, just saying" Ana said with a crooked smile.

"I'm assume you lost your virginity then?" I asked. Ana nodded "Yeah, the guy's dead now but I'm speaking from experience when I say that good sex helps people; that guy helped me get over Uncle Niall's death". I snorted "Ana you're vastly different from me, even though you're my twin you and I couldn't be more different" I said as I gently moved some hair out of Chandler's face, in his sleep Chandler pushed his head into my hand.

"I'll talk to him after he wakes up, establish dominance and all that" Ana said as she unrolled her own sleeping bag. I chuckled "Chandler might actually stand up to you, you should have seen him go off on Jordan the other day" I joked as I wiggled in between Chandler's arms to go to sleep. "I missed you Cole" Ana said after a moment a silence "I missed you more sister" I said before I buried my face into Chandler's chest to fall asleep.

I was woken up by soft voices the next morning, opening my eyes I was looking at a wall; rubbing my face I sat up and saw Chandler and Ana talking together, whispering. "Look it's _absolutely_ none of your business" Chandler was saying. "He's my brother, my twin brother, so yes it is; I want to make he's safe" Ana shot back. "That doesn't mean you need to know _anything_ about my past" Chandler snapped.  

Ana crossed her arms "I don't like your tone right now". Chandler snorted "And I don't like how you're trying to pry into my life". I was disappointed, I wanted so badly for my sister and Chandler to get along but I guess I should have seen this coming: you can't have two Alphas in a pack.

"Good morning" I said, Chandler's head whipped around "Hey, how did you sleep?" He asked as he got to his feet and walked over to me; Ana's eyes narrowed as Chandler left, apparently she wasn't finished with the conversation."I slept ok" I answered Chandler kissed me on the cheek but after, whispered in my ear "Tell your sister to back off or things are going to get really bad, really fast".

"Hey kids" Uncle Liam said, holding the baby and dissolving the tension "How did everyone sleep?" Ana stood up "Well everyone seems to be awake, let's go see Oshihiro for your job interviews".

-

All of us sat in the chairs that appeared in Oshihiro's apartment; all of us faced her desk and she had some papers in front of her; Ana and another guy stood beside her.

The guy was a greek god of a man; his shoulders were so broad that he could have easily hugged Ana and I at the same time, his tight shirt hinted at the defined, chiseled physique hidden underneath the cloth but his large, bare biceps were shown proudly as he had his arms crossed at the moment with a thoughtful look on his face, watching the girls. The guy was a redhead, but instead of the bright orange hair that some redheads had, it was a deep dark red; not quite brown, no one would have described this guy as a brunette. His face was somehow insanely hot but still boyish and adorable at the same time, his warm brown eyes just invited you in.He was also tall, about Dad's height, which meant that my forehead would have been on his nose.  

"This is Sergeant Neuhart, Ana's subordinate and the head of security here" Oshihiro said, Neuhart gave a slight nod as Oshihiro went on "So everyone here has a job: you work, you eat. Pretty simple and fair right?" Oshihiro pulled out a deck of playing cards "We use cards as currency, Ace's are one, two are two, three are three and so on, the face cards are all eleven; today we will decide what your job is and how much you'll get paid. Your boss will give you cards based on your wage and you can use them to buy food and water and whatever else you want".

Ohsihiro pulled out a pen "Ok so we'll just go down the row and just tell me what you used to do before all of this happened and we'll see if we can work with that" she turned to Chandler, Eric and I who sat at the very end "We'll get to you three last since you're younger and probably didn't work". "So, Jordan is it? What did you use to do?" Oshihiro asked as she uncapped her pen "I was the general manager of a Starbucks" he said Oshihiro nodded "Leadership role" she mumbled to herself "Was that the only job you've had?"

Katelyn hid a smile behind her hand and Jordan turned a bright red "Well...um...no...but I don't think it's...relevant...to what you're...looking for" Jordan stuttered. "You don't have any idea what I'm looking for" Oshihiro said, tapping her pen against her desk with slight annoyance like a school teacher.Jordan nodded "I was...um...an exotic dancer since I was eighteen until my early twenties" he said to the floor.

"You were a stripper?" Oshihiro said as everyone turned to stare at Jordan; Jordan coughed "Yeah, that's actually how I met Katelyn" he said before looking at her. "Now that's a story I have to hear" Uncle Zayn said with a smirk that only made Jordan turn even more red. Oshihiro folded her hands together "You'll work in one of the shops then for 5 points an hour" she said before writing it down on the paper in front of her

Katelyn and Aurora were both graphic designers which didn't impress Oshihiro at all; Zayn became a mechanic to work on the fleet of vehicles they had and Liam actually become a pilot after mentioning that he's flown a helicopter once during a search and rescue. Both of them would work for eleven points, dollars, whatever, an hour.

Finally it was our turn "Chandler, I would like you to join Ana's team and help secure supp-" Ohsihiro started saying, but Chandler cut her off "No". Oshihiro's eyebrows went up "Excuse me?" Chandler placed an arm around my shoulders "No, thank you". Oshihiro placed her elbows on her desk "If you don't work you won't eat, we don't give handouts here". "Alright" was all Chandler said.

Oshihiro turned to me but before she could speak Neuhart said "Captain, I would like request a series of exercises to be done with the dogs, I believe they can be used in the security of the airport". Oshihiro nodded so Neuhart started walking to the door "Cole, please come with me and bring your dogs" he said over his shoulder. I got up and followed him out, I could feel Chandler's eyes on me as I walked out.

 


End file.
